PHD Graduate Student

Two positions are available for qualified and enthusiastic candidates to join my group as PhD students in FLAME University working on

mathematical ecology . These positions are funded fully by FLAME University and offer generous living and research support. The details of the positions are as follows :

Application deadline :

March 2025

Selection procedure :

Through FLAME University's PhD entrance test in April 2025 and subsequent interview. (The entrance test requirement can be waived if the candidate has cleared NET or GATE.)

Start date : July 2025

Duration : 4 years

Possible projects : Analytical and numerical modelling of the spread of invasive species in India :

This project will involve building various analytical and simulation models to study the causes and effects of the invasion of various species in India, and to predict their future spread given evolving climatic and urbanization conditions. Some of the focus questions will be why the populations of native and invasive species change, how the surrounding landscape evolves in response, and what the economic drivers and consequences of species invasion are.Persistence of species in ecosystems :

The question of how persistent a species is in an ecosystem can be answered by considering different metrics such as its mean time to extinction, its invasion growth rate, etc. This project will seek to clarify the scope of applicability of existing metrics under different conditions, develop new analytical formulae and numerical techniques to calculate them, and come up with new universal persistence metrics. The project will also attempt to study the consequences of these new metrics for other fields like economics and finance.Other topics :

The candidates are free to propose any topics of their interest in mathematical ecology.

Desired background : While the overall questions in the PhD will be ecological in nature, the tools that we will use will be predominantly mathematical and computational, such as analytical and numerical techniques for solving differential equations, concepts from statistical physics, and simulation methods like Monte Carlo.For this reason, the applicants should hold (or obtain soon after applying) a Masters degree in

Mathematics, Physics, Ecology / Zoology (with a STRONG mathematical background), Engineering, or allied fields , and they should be interested in working at the intersection of Mathematics, Physics, Ecology and Economics. The projects will involve significant numerical analysis, so

competent programming skills

are needed, and experience with data analysis is a plus. Acquaintance with theoretical ecology is helpful but not essential. The projects might include a component of field-based data collection, so experience with ecological fieldwork may be useful but is not essential.

Interested candidates may contact me on

or write me an email.