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The department of Cognitive Biology, research group of Prof. Thomas Bugnyar, has funding available for a three year PhD position in Socio-Cognition. The PhD candidate will be part of a small team lead by Dr. Jorg Massen studying the evolution of pro-social concern.
The evolution of altruistic behaviour remains a conundrum in behavioural biology. Nonetheless, other-regarding behaviour is regularly observed in a variety of species. Therefore, the aim of this project is to investigate the evolutionary origins of pro-social behaviour. By testing several species from two phylogenetic very distant orders (i.e. primates and corvids) the project will allow testing clear hypotheses regarding convergent evolution and several specific socio-ecological pressures that may have led to the evolution of pro-sociality. The project will involve several behavioural experiments on a total of 5 species: i.e. human children, common marmosets, long-tailed macaques, common ravens and azure-winged magpies.
The 3-year PhD position is fully paid (30 hours/week) by the Austrian Science Foundation (FWF, Project Number P-26806) and is based at the University of Vienna, Austria (http://cogbio.univie.ac.at). However, the candidate will also work at the Biomedical Primate Research Centre (BPRC), Rijswijk, in the Netherlands for one year during the project, to study the long-tailed macaques. The candidate will be supervised by Dr. Jorg Massen and Prof. Thomas Bugnyar.
Letters of application including CV, photograph, publication list, 2-3 letters of recommendation and a statement of research interests should be sent to Mrs. Petra Pesak, MSc. by E-mail (petra...@univie.ac.at) until April 30th, 2014. Planned interview dates are in mid/end May, 2014. Planned starting date is June 1st, 2014.
The University of Vienna promotes the employment of women in fields of work in which they are underrepresented and therefore encourages qualified women to apply to this opening. Disabled people will be preferentially treated if qualified.
Required qualifications
· A master’s or an equivalent degree in Behavioural Biology or related fields
· Excellent knowledge of English
· Research experience in animal behaviour
· Knowledge of theories about the evolution of socio-positive behaviours
· Strong commitment to animal cognition
· Endurance
Beneficial qualifications
· Experience of designing and conducting behavioural experiments
· Experience of working with corvids
· Experience of working with primates
· Experience of working with human children
· Knowledge of the cooperative breeding hypothesis