FRANÇAIS

Are you fascinated by food webs, too?

We are recruiting curious, independent, and motivated students at all levels (graduate students, postdocs, and undergraduates) to join our collaborative, supportive, and diverse team in the Department of Biology at Université de Sherbrooke (UdeS):

Graduate Students

We currently have funding to support 1 new PhD and 1 new MSc student. The Barbour Lab is committed to #SupportOurScience by paying graduate students a living wage.

Postdocs

Although we currently do not have funding for a postdoc, you should still contact Matt Barbour if you are interested. Matt is happy to support and collaborate on postdoc applications for NSERC (due Oct. 17), Banting (due Sep. 20), and Liber Ero (due Nov. 1) fellowships, or explore other opportunities.

Undergraduate students

We are always looking for students that are passionate about biology to join the lab while earning research credits or through a COOP internship (funding permitting). Since our research spans biological scales, there are research opportunities for students pursuing general and specialized (e.g. ecology, microbiology, or molecular biology) degrees in biology.

Why the Barbour Lab?

You will join a dynamic group of biologists that are fascinated by food webs and the intricate ecology and coevolution of plants and insects. Yet our research seeks to discover insights that cut across the ‘tree of life’. We ask and strive to answer questions that will help us better understand and predict how gene to ecosystem processes will be altered by environmental change.

We use a variety of approaches and tools to answer these questions, so you will have the opportunity to develop expertise on diverse topics and skills such as:

Topics

Eco-evolutionary dynamics
Food-web theory
Plant-herbivore interactions
Host-parasitoid interactions

Skills

Advanced statistical modeling
Network analysis
Genetic methods and tools
Reproducible research practices
Scientific communication

Why Université de Sherbrooke?

Our lab is part of the Department of Biology at UdeS, which has an outstanding group of ecologists and evolutionary biologists that actively participate in the scientific and social life of the department. We have a new state-of-the-art greenhouse outfitted with an automated plan phenotyping platform that will be used as part of the proposed research projects.

Sherbrooke is a medium-sized city (~170,000 people) nestled amongst a landscape of lakes, rivers, and forests which offer a wealth of outdoor activities year-round. It is a city that you can afford to live in as a MSc or PhD student with the minimum stipends outlined above (ranked as the second most affordable city for young people in Canada by Slice in 2021) and, if you would also like to enjoy big city life, Montreal is less than two hours away by car or bus.

UdeS is a French-speaking institution, but our lab and the research community operates bilingually in French and English.

How to Join Our Lab:

Use the form below to express your interest in the lab or to apply for current positions. Applications for PhD and MSc students will be accepted until the positions are filled. If you have any questions, please email Matt at matthew.barbour@usherbrooke.ca

Fill out this form to Express Your Interest & apply →

*International students will have higher stipends to compensate for the extra costs of medical insurance, moving costs, study permit fees, and differential tuition fees. Please refer to this example budget for a graduate student living in Sherbrooke for more information.