We are offering a 4-year PhD position to investigate the evolutionary origins of the social foundations of language. Across primate species, we investigate how interdependence, mutual gaze, amygdala anatomy and communicative complexity are interrelated. A special focus will be on marmoset monkeys, where more fine-grained analyses and experiments with a broad range of non-invasive techniques (such as thermography, automated recording and classification of vocalizations and behavior, or endocrinology) can be conducted. A second PhD student in the project will be working on corresponding questions with neurotypical and autistic children. The position is funded by the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) Evolving Language, a Swiss consortium with the ambitious goal of creating a new discipline, Evolutionary Language Science, that targets the past and future of language. The consortium consists of leading scientists from traditionally separated academic domains, which allows us to harvest the diverse expertise from the humanities, social sciences, computational sciences, natural sciences and medicine towards a broadscale interdisciplinary collaboration. The successful candidate is expected to - be interested in animal cognition/communication, linguistic theory and cognitive science and contribute to shaping the project - collect data on dyadic gaze behavior in multiple primate species, with a particular focus on marmoset monkeys - compile neuroanatomical data available from the literature - possess a solid background in statistics and data processing - hold a MSc degree in a relevant discipline - be fluent in English (oral, written) The candidate for this project will be part of the Evolutionary Cognition Group of the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology and supervised by Profs. Judith Burkart, Sabine Stoll (UZH) and Marie Schaer (University of Geneva). The earliest start of the position is June 2024 (negotiable). Salary is according to the pay scale of the Swiss National Science Foundation. The position is available until filled; we will start reviewing applications from April 15, 2024. To apply, please compile the following documents into a single PDF labelled ‘YourSurname.pdf’ and send it to Judith Burkart, judith.burkart@aim.uzh.ch - Cover letter - Curriculum vitae - Publication list - Contact details of two referees We take gender balance and diversity seriously in hiring decisions.