The Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, is seeking a Post-doctoral research associate (PDRA) in sedimentary geology and palaeontology to join the project "Establishing the environmental context for Earth's first 'mass extinction'", funded by the Leverhulme Trust. The PDRA position is for three years. Ideally the candidate would start in October 2021, although there is some flexibility to permit a later start date.The project seeks to test the evidential basis for the hypothesis that the Ediacaran macrobiota suffered a late Ediacaran extinction event several million years before the Cambrian radiation of crown group animal phyla. The successful candidate will work as part of a wider international team of palaeontologists and sedimentary geologists, utilising a range of data types to study the environmental context of late Ediacaran evolutionary events. They will organise and lead field-based data collection in Russia and Namibia, in order to accurately reconstruct late Ediacaran fossil-bearing depositional environments. Data collected will contribute towards establishing whether global-scale correlations exist between specific past environments and the fossilised taxa present within them. Although the project is already well-defined, the successful candidate will have some flexibility to pursue research questions aligning with their own interests. It is expected that the candidate will have experience and interest in at least one of the following areas: palaeobiology, reconstructing palaeoenvironments (experience working with shallow marine sedimentary facies would be particularly welcomed), geological mapping, and/or Ediacaran-Cambrian evolutionary events. Applications are invited from candidates with relevant expertise in fields such as invertebrate palaeontology, sedimentary geology, and/or sedimentary petrology. Applicants must have (or be about to obtain) a PhD in a relevant area. They will have significant experience in either sedimentary geology or invertebrate palaeobiology, good communication skills, the ability to work as part of a team, good IT and data handling skills, experience in organising field-based research, and preferably a track record of publication in peer-reviewed journals. Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available for 3 years in the first instance. Click the 'Apply' button below to register an account with our recruitment system (if you have not already) and apply online. Please quote reference LB26148 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy. The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.Apply online