mardi 15 novembre 2016

PhD position in Animal Behaviour - Social Dynamics and Social Knowledge in wild ravens

At the University of Vienna (15 faculties, 4 centres, about 188 fields of study, approx. 9.400 members of staff, more than 90.000 students) the position of a PhD Candidate (m/f) in Animal Behaviour is vacant.

The research group of Prof. Thomas Bugnyar at the Department of Cognitive Biology has funding available for a three year PhD position in Animal Behaviour. The PhD candidate will be part of a new FWF-program on Social Dynamics and Social Knowledge in wild ravens and should develop his/her own project within this framework. Tests of social knowledge shall include playback designs, thus expertise in bioacoustics and interest in animal communication are essential. 
The 3-year PhD position is fully paid (30 hours-week) and is based mainly at the Konrad Lorenz Research Station at Grünau, about 230 km West of Vienna. The PhD candidate will be enrolled at the Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Austria (http://cogbio.univie.ac.at/) and will interact with its members on a regular base. The working language of the Department is English and we welcome scientists and students from all over the world. 
The PhD candidate will be embedded in the newly founded Vienna Doctoral School (VDS) for Cognition, Behaviour and Neuroscience (CoBeNe) at the University of Vienna (https://vdscobene univie.ac.at). The main goal of VDS CoBeNe is quality assurance in PhD training and education. In addition the organization stands for promotion of inter- and transdisciplinary knowledge exchange.

Profile:
• Above average masters degree in either zoology, psychology, neuroscience, engineering, or computer science
• Proficient knowledge of English
• Excellent academic standing
• Research experience in analysis of animal behaviour and communication
• Strong computational and bio-acoustical skills
• Genuine interest in studying behaviour under field-like conditions

Further desirable qualifications
• Publications in international, peer-reviewed journals
• Previous experience in studying animal communication
• Previous experience in playback studies, video analysis, cognitive experiments
• Previous experience in working in a research team
• Ability to work in a team is essential
 
Letters of application including CV, photograph, 2 letters of recommendation and a statement of research interests should be sent to Mrs. Sigrid Hager by email (vds.cobene@univie.ac.at) until December 2nd, 2016. Planned starting date is February 1st, 2017.

The University of Vienna promotes the employment of woman 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.