Fully funded PhD position (4-years)
OLDMUSSEL: Analysis of the long-term adaptation of bivalves to environmental change using ancient remains
 
We are looking for a pre-doctoral researcher to work on an interdisciplinary project which will integrate archaeology, genomics, and ecology, to understand how aquatic populations adapt to long-term climate change and intense human fishing pressures, with mussel and oysters as study species and the Galician estuaries as a natural laboratory. The PhD will be based at the Institute of Marine Research (IIM-CSIC) in Vigo (Spain) supervised by researchers from the ACUABIOTEC Lab (Prof Sofia Consuegra) and the Immunology and Genomics group (Prof Antonio Figueras & Dr Magali Rey) and will run in close collaboration with the OLDSALMO project (https://oldsalmo.csic.es) and their multidisciplinary team. The PhD candidate will be registered at the University of Vigo, with a designated academic tutor.
 
Key objectives and tasks include:
- Establishing a 5,000-10,000 year genetic baseline by conducting museum and field sampling trips to prehistoric shell pits across the North of the Iberian Peninsula.
- Developing and optimising novel protocols to extract and validate ancient DNA from historical samples.
- Modelling temporal changes in genomic diversity, quantifying genetic erosion, and analysing morphological traits (size and age) to link past evolutionary shifts with historical climate events.
- Investigating cutting-edge bivalve long-term genetics, including complex open pangenome architectures and immune system gene expansions.
The project includes close collaboration with the University of Cantabria’s Department of Prehistory for archaeological support. Fieldwork, molecular tasks, and phenotypic analyses will be supported by the OLDSALMO and the Immunology and Genomics project teams. Core training will cover molecular wet-lab techniques, bioinformatics, aquatic population omics, mollusc ecology, molecular evolution, image analysis, and advanced statistics.
Requisites: Undergraduate and Masters degree in molecular ecology, population genomics, Evolutionary biology or similar and knowledge of R, Python or similar. Ideally, but not necessarily, experience working with degraded DNA (ancient or environmental) and aquatic environments.
 
To apply for this position, please send a CV and letter of intention to Prof Sofia Consuegra, sconsuegra@iim.csic.es or Magali Rey mrey@iim.csic.es. Deadline for applications is the 25 of August 2026 and interviews will take place the 31st of August- 1st of September via zoom.

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