MRes Studentship 18 months
“Trade-offs in sexual selection and
cognition”
Why do individuals vary in their cognitive abilities?
EVOECOCOG, an ERC funded project, takes the disciplines of
cognition and evolutionary biology into a natural setting to answer this
question. It aims to do this by investigating a variety of proximate
causes and population-level consequences of individual
cognitive variation using a great tit Parus major population.
This MRes position will explore potential
trade-offs between traits involved in pre-copulatory and post-copulatory
sexual selection and their
relationships with mating success and cognitive ability. The student
will perform laboratory analyses of sperm sampled from male great tits
in the breeding season to measure sperm quality and viability, and then
relate this to mating success by performing
paternity analysis using a newly purchased state-of-the-art DNA
sequencer. These measures will be compared to measures of signal quality
and cognitive ability to detect potential trade-offs among these
traits.
The chosen study system, the great tit
Parus major, is one of the most widely used in Europe, and
consists of 12 subpopulations across deciduous and conifer woodland
fragments in Co. Cork, Ireland. A recent state of the art aviary is also
available for experimental study at the School of
BEES.
This advert is for an 18 month
MRes studentship. The successful student will be based in the UCC
Ornithology lab at the School of BEES http://ornithology.ucc.ie.
They will join a research team led by Prof. John L. Quinn, consisting of 8 early career biologists working on this project (see
http://ornithology.ucc.ie/current-projects/evolutionary-ecology-of-cognition/),
a Research Support Officer, and a range of other students and postdocs
working on a variety of different projects in behavioural and applied
ecology. The studentships will be cosupervised by Prof. J. Quinn and Dr
Michael Reichert.
Candidates should possess a
2.1 BSc (Hons) degree or higher in a relevant discipline (e.g. Ecology,
Zoology, Evolution, Physiology, Psychology). Applicants
must be self-motivated with good numerical, communication,
organisational, experimental design, and writing skills. Students with
experience working under difficult conditions in the field or with an
MSc are likely to have a strong advantage. A full, clean
driving license will be important early in the MRes, and experience
working with birds in captivity or in the wild would also be
advantageous. A willingness to spend long periods of time in the field
in spring, and to travel and work across different research
sites is important. This position covers EU fee rates (€5,750 p.a.;
non-EU members may apply but would need to cover extra international
rate fees themselves), plus a tax-free stipend of approx. €16,000 p.a.
Please direct informal inquiries to Prof. John L. Quinn at
j.quinn@ucc.ie
Application:
To apply please send by email to Prof. John Quinn,
j.quinn@ucc.ie a CV, details of 2 referees, and an accompanying 1 page letter. The
letter should outline of your relevant experience, explaining why you want the studentship.Dates: Application deadline is 28 February 2018. Interviews will be held in person or by Skype within 1 weeks. Start dates are 1 April 2018 or sooner!
University
College Cork is one of Ireland’s largest and most successful
universities and the studentships will be based at the
School of BEES. Currently there are 28 faculty, ca. 20 postdocs and 35
PhD students across Zoology, Ecology, Plant Sciences and Geology. Cork
is situated on the south coast of Ireland, 2.5 hours from Dublin, is
served by an international airport, has a population
of about 200,000, and is on the doorstep of some of the most beautiful
coastline in Europe.
John Quinn (Professor in Zoology & Head of Discipline), School of
Biological, Earth and Environmental Science (BEES), UCC, North Mall, Cork, Ireland. T23 N73K
Tel (work): 00353-21-4904546 ; Tel (mobile): 00353-(0)852266122
Personal http://ornithology.ucc.ieSchool https://www.ucc.ie/en/bees/UCC http://www.ucc.ie/en/