The post holders will be responsible for processing data from seabed passive acoustic ‘click detectors’ and develop and apply processing techniques for data from broadband sound recorders for concurrent measures of ambient and turbine noise. You will support the wider passive acoustic measurement campaigns and platform integration as well as the wider portfolio of marine renewable energy research.
A level of Gaelic ability would be advantageous to your application.
With rapid development of floating offshore wind (FLOW), exploitation of enhanced prey availability around FLOW by predators depends on attractiveness (e.g., prey abundance and regularity) and potential threat assessments, including movement and noise from dynamic moorings and indirect effects such as vessel activity. Predator presence may reflect a trade-off between the foraging benefits potentially offered by increased prey availability and the risks posed by disturbances such as noise and vessel activity. This
exciting role will investigate how marine species respond to new sound sources by analyzing passive acoustic recordings and soundscape dynamics. Your work will contribute directly to sustainable offshore energy policies and marine conservation efforts.
The candidate will:
- Process data from seabed passive acoustic ‘click detectors’ to quantify vocalizing cetacean behavior, including across diel, tidal and wider seasonal and oceanographic cycles, using a gradient design to understand range of any effect.
- Develop and apply processing techniques for data from broadband sound recorders for concurrent measures of ambient and turbine noise, alongside wider species vocalizations using automated detectors.
- Combine passive acoustic measures of marine mammal presence and foraging behavior with metrics of prey and the factors promoting prey availability, to investigate how predator prey interactions change around fixed and floating offshore wind.
- Contribute to the design and data collection of upcoming multi-platform and multi-ship field campaigns in 2025, 2026 and beyond.
- Support wider passive acoustic measurement campaigns and platform integration, e.g., integrating passive acoustic measurements into USVs, explore opportunities for particle motion, and support developing a wider portfolio of soundscape research.
- Support the wider portfolio of marine renewable energy research including wave and tidal energy, e.g., noise characterization measurements to investigate environmental interactions of wave energy converters for off-grid communities in Indonesia.
The candidate will require:
- Experience with passive acoustic data collection (C/FPODs, broadband recorders), processing and analysis.
- Experience with directional arrays (for localization), particle motion or wider soundscape research is an advantage.
- Expertise in mammal and/or fish vocalization analysis (e.g., PAMGuard, Raven) and sound source characterization and assessment (e.g., MATLAB, PAMGuide).
- A strong grounding in data processing and statistics (e.g., R, MATLAB). Experience with appropriate statistical modelling techniques is an advantage, both to interpret results but also for the hypothesis-led research questions for spatio-temporal design of future large-scale distributed and coordinated monitoring campaigns.
- An interest in the oceanographic and ecosystem effects of large-scale marine anthropogenic structures, and predator/prey interactions.
Qualifications:
Postholders have the knowledge, skills and experience normally associated with a first degree, together with:
- a Ph.D. or an equivalent professional qualification; or
- at least 4 years appropriate professional experience.
Experience:
- Sufficient breadth or depth of specialist knowledge in the discipline to effectively contribute to research programs and to the development of departmental research activities.
- A developing ability to prepare research proposals, to conduct individual research work and to disseminate results, with the assistance of a mentor if required.
- The ability to organize own research workload, with some guidance from senior colleagues if required.
Salary: Research Associate I (£36,066 – £38,641) or Research Associate II (£41,467 – £44,420)
Application deadline: May 26, 2025
