The Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB)

<http://eeb.bio.utk.edu/>at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is

forming a new research unit focused on Conservation Science

<http://eeb.bio.utk.edu/con-sci-grads/>. We seek applications from

outstanding prospective graduate students in this topic, who wish to

pursue a PhD or research-based Masters. We have funding to admit a

strong cohort of students. While we encourage students to pursue

independent funding opportunities, EEB’s policy is to admit students

only when we are confident we can provide funding for the full duration

of their studies. We provide funding to both Masters and PhD students,

regardless of their citizenship. Our goal is to recruit a diverse pool

of students on a range of metrics, including background, career stage,

and research interests.

Our ecology program is among the top 10% for research impact in North

America (Keville et al., 2017

<http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecs2.1620/full>). Our recent

Conservation Science graduates have an excellent record of placement,

with students accepting post-doctoral positions in internationally

renowned research groups and leadership positions within conservation

NGOs and public agencies. Our students’ dissertation projects are

published in top-tier journals and deliver research products that our

practitioner partners use and value. Our students study globally

important conservation questions, commonly working in overseas field

systems alongside in-country practitioners.

We anticipate having a “cohort-model” where students interact with each

other and multiple faculty members. However, students typically have one

lead faculty advisor. Ensuring a good match between this advisor and the

student is a central feature of our recruitment process. *Interested

students should reach out to potential advisors by email* (view advisor

email list and full ad at http://eeb.bio.utk.edu/con-sci-grads) to

explore possibilities.

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