New PhD position to work on the Beluga whale

Responsabilities

We are pleased to announce two fully funded PhD positions within our new research project on the St. Lawrence River Beluga whale population in Quebec.

Read the official announcement of the project by FNRS here.

More informations on the project news can be found here.

One PhD position will be based in Montreal, in the research group of our collaborator Dr. Jonathan Verreault. The second PhD will be based in Namur, Belgium, at the LEAP laboratory, under the supervision of Prof. Frédéric Silvestre.

Full details of both positions can be found in the document below.

The position in Namur will focus on the development and application of an epigenetic clock for the St. Lawrence Beluga population. We are seeking a candidate with strong expertise and/or interest in:

• Epigenetics
• Whole-genome sequencing
• Bioinformatics

The main techniques involved may include:

Reduced representation bisulfite sequencing

Nanopore long-read sequencing

Targeted amplicon bisulfite sequencing

Pyrosequencing

Bioinformatic workflows for methylation data analysis

One of the project’s goals is to develop a Shiny web application to make the epigenetic clock tool accessible to the broader research community.

The position also includes:

Opportunities for fieldwork

Several research visits to Quebec

A strong component of scientific outreach and communication

The working language will be French, but non-French speakers are encouraged to apply if they speak English.

Project Summary:

The St. Lawrence Estuary (SLE) beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) in Québec (Canada) inhabits a marine ecosystem heavily impacted by human activities and has shown no signs of recovery in recent decades. Exposure to contaminants in suspected to contribute to some increasing causes of mortality in recent years in this population - such as infectious diseases and postpartum mortality in females - but the exact causes remain unknown (e.g., stress, immunosuppresion, endocrine disruption, poor condition, etc.). A major limitation in assessing the health of individuals in this population in relation to contaminant exposure is the lack of a method to determine the age of living SLE Belugas.

The goal of this interdisciplinary project is to understand the impact of age on contaminant exposure, stress, and health status of SLE belugas using cutting-edge omics and epigenetic approaches. We will validate a novel method to determine age (epigenetic clock) in belugas and investigate the role of age in contaminant accumulation and transcriptomic markers of stress and health (immune and hormonal status, physical condition, presence of infectious diseases), by comparing the SLE population to a healthier population of Canadian Arctic belugas. This project will address fundamental research questions never before explored in belugas, ultimately informing improved conservation strategies to help this endangered population recover.

Two PhD positions are offered as part of this call: one based in Montréal, Canada and the other in Namur, Belgium. This project is a collaboration between UQAM (prof. Jonathan Verreault), Université de Montréal (Prof. Stéphane Lair), Université de Namur (Profs. Frédéric Silvestre and Alice Dennis), Université de Liège (Prof. Krishna Das), Environment and Climate Change Canada (Dr Magali Houde), GREMM (Robert Michaud), and Fisheries and Oceans Canada (Dr. Véronique Lesage).

Profile

Requirements: B.Sc and/or M.Sc. in biochemistry, biology, or a related field; strong profiency in English and/or French (proficiency in french is an asset); primary residence in Montréal (Québec, Canada) or Namur (Belgium) for the full duration of the project.

Assets: Experience in molecular biology, ecotoxicology, marine mammal biology, and bioinformatics (e.g., omics data analysis).

Additional information

Doctoral scholarship provided for a 4-year period. Includes fieldwork and lab work.

Remarks

Applications

To apply, please send your CV and transcripts (B. Sc. and M.Sc.) by September 1st, 2025 to:

• For the position at Montréal: Jonathan Verreault, Dép. des sciences biologiques, Université du Québec à Montréal. E-mail: verreault.jonathan@uqam.ca
• For the position at Namur: Frédéric Silvestre, Dép. de Biologie, Université de Namur. E-mail: frederic.silvestre@unamur.be