A four-year funded contract is available for a candidate to conduct a PhD thesis on biology/epigenetics of small pelagic fish.
The candidate will work in the framework of the funded project CONSARFISH (Ref: PID2024-158108OB-I00 ), integrating sardine condition, epigenetics, and environmental drivers for conservation, consumption and sustainable fisheries in the Western Mediterranean . The thesis will be supervised by investigators of the Universitat de Girona: Marta Muñoz and Odei García (GRMar) and Jordi Viñas (LIG).

The European sardine, Sardina pilchardus, is a relevant species both for its ecological role in the marine ecosystem and for its importance as a fishery resource. It is currently considered overexploited in the Mediterranean. Organizations responsible for fisheries management consider the situation to be alarming and identify the sardine as a key species to be analyzed in the western Mediterranean.
Under this scenario, the PhD candidate will conduct multidisciplinary research about the status of sardine populations in the Mediterranean, combining the evaluation of the condition, reproduction, and epigenetics. In this project, we aim to know the current status of the populations (condition, lipid reserves, reproductive potential) incorporating analyses relevant to both the condition of the specimens and their suitability for human consumption (lipid quality and heavy metals). Variations in spawning quantity and quality will allow us to determine the optimal minimum landing size. We also intend to analyse whether epigenetic variability acts as a response mechanism to induce phenotypic adaptation to environmental changes and, ultimately, to develop (genetic and/or epigenetic) markers of sardine condition and resource quality. All this, together with the knowledge of the interrelationships between status, reproduction, epigenetics and environmental factors, plays a crucial role in the conservation of the species and in the formulation of management strategies for its exploitation, while allowing the revaluation of the resource in its commercialisation.

Candidates should have a strong background in biology and genetics and submit a letter of motivation, CV, academic record and at least one mail for reference to:

marta.munyoz@udg.edu, jordi.vinas@udg.edu, odei.garcia@udg.edu

The deadline for the submission is October 15th, 2025