The PhD scholarships are offered
by Macquarie University, Sydney, and cover all tuition fees and a living
stipend.
1. Examining mechanisms of
cognition and goal-directed behaviour in honey bees
This project in cognitive
neuroethology will examine how honey bees learn and process complex stimuli and
choose and enact the most appropriate behavioural response. It will focus on
visual learning, stimulus classification, resolution of uncertainty,
goal-directed behaviour or operant learning and involve a combination of
behavioural analyses, neural imaging and neuropharmacology. It will suit
applicants with training in neurobiology. The project is aligned with a Future
Fellowship Grant awarded to Andrew Barron to model functions of the bee brain.
The new experimental data generated in this project will be used to
synergistically test and improve models of brain function.
2. Improving honey bee health
The project will study the process of colony
decline and failure in order to identify colonies at risk of collapse early and
the best interventions to rescue colonies.
It will involve longitudinal detailed monitoring of colony growth and
performance using new sensor technologies, and examination of impacts of
pesticide and pathogen stressors on bees and colonies. The project is a collaboration
with the United States Department of Agriculture, and universities in the USA.
For more information on the
research activities of the lab visit:
Scholarship details are given
here:
To register an expression of
interest contact Andrew Barron