We
seek to fill a 3-year position for a PhD student in the area of primate social
awareness and behavioural economics, funded by the Swiss National Science
Foundation.
Humans
are not perfectly rational, as the literature and its traditional theories
predict. Humans are notoriously impatient and ‘bad’ at decision making when
decisions are hard to make. Psychological biases, hence, act upon decisions.
The nature of the bounds of rationality in non-human animals is largely
unknown. The main interest is in the origins of common psychological
denominators in humans and non-human primates when making cost/benefit
decisions in social contexts.
The
project will encompass research with chimpanzees, orangutans and gorillas in Zoo
Basel. Behavioural data will be collected from these animals in controlled
experimental conditions using touch-screen technology. The combination with
computational analysis and modeling techniques, simulating the observed
behaviour/processes, breaks the findings down from unique species-specific
characteristics to the common denominator which is shared among species.
The
successful candidate will have a strong academic background in a relevant
discipline (psychology, biology, neurosciences, physics, economics), high level
of motivation and interest in the above topics. Further, some prior experience
in programming and data analysis using MATLAB is essential; working knowledge
in German language is a plus (for easier communication with care takes at Zoo
Basel). She/he will by supervised by Christoph Dahl and join a strong team of
Master and PhD students and postdoctoral researchers at the Laboratory for
Comparative Cognition at the University of Neuchatel (http://www2.unine.ch/compcog). Importantly,
most of the work will be done at Zoo Basel (http://www.zoobasel.ch). The
position is fully funded for three years with an annual gross salary of around
CHF 48,500.
We
seek to fill the position by June 2016,
although the starting date is negotiable. We aim to generate a work programme
that maximally fits the candidate’s own interest - within the limits of the
project’s goals – so personal initiative, independent work ethics, and a strong
interest in theory will be essential prerequisites.
If
you are interested in this position, please email a cover letter, your CV and
the names of three referees to Dr Christoph Dahl (christoph.dahl@unine.ch).