Department of Zoology, University of Oxford
Group decision-making: homing pigeon navigation as a model system
Supervisors:
Dr Dora Biro (dora.biro@zoo.ox.ac.uk),
Prof Tim Guilford (tim.guilford@zoo.ox.ac.uk)
Funding particulars:
Fully-funded 3-year PhD position, available to EU/UK citizens
Project summary:
How animals that live in social groups are able to reach joint decisions about many aspects of their daily lives is a fundamental question in animal behaviour, and has recently emerged as a burgeoning field in which experimental data still lag far behind theoretical treatments. This project draws on the supervisors’ ongoing research program focusing on collective animal behaviour, incorporating both empirical and theoretical approaches to understanding group decision-making using avian navigation as a model system. The student will carry out experimental fieldwork with groups of homing pigeons, utilising miniature GPS technology to investigate the outcome of shared navigational decisions. Experiments will examine the effects of group size and group composition on the mechanisms and accuracy of navigational decision-making, and the transmission of navigational information between individuals with differing levels of knowledge during a homing task, with additional scope for individual initiative to develop own interests and questions. In parallel, the student will be encouraged to explore relevant analytical techniques, including mathematical modelling and agent-based simulations informed by the data gathered during experiments. This combination of experimental work and computational modelling represents a unique opportunity in the growing field of collective animal behaviour. Homing pigeons have long been a model species in animal navigation research, and have recently emerged as a system suited particularly well to the study of group decision-making thanks to the ease with which the possession of information within flocks can be controlled, social interactions regulated, and the flow of information quantified. The questions explored in this project address fundamental issues in animal cognition, potentially relevant to a range of different species and to decision-making in a wide variety of contexts.
Application deadline:
16 February 2009
(applicants should have or be expected to gain at least a 2:1 in a suitable biologically or psychologically-related subject)
Visit
http://www.zoo.ox.ac.uk/students/postgrad/funded_studentships.htm
for further particulars and details of application procedure.
Group decision-making: homing pigeon navigation as a model system
Supervisors:
Dr Dora Biro (dora.biro@zoo.ox.ac.uk),
Prof Tim Guilford (tim.guilford@zoo.ox.ac.uk)
Funding particulars:
Fully-funded 3-year PhD position, available to EU/UK citizens
Project summary:
How animals that live in social groups are able to reach joint decisions about many aspects of their daily lives is a fundamental question in animal behaviour, and has recently emerged as a burgeoning field in which experimental data still lag far behind theoretical treatments. This project draws on the supervisors’ ongoing research program focusing on collective animal behaviour, incorporating both empirical and theoretical approaches to understanding group decision-making using avian navigation as a model system. The student will carry out experimental fieldwork with groups of homing pigeons, utilising miniature GPS technology to investigate the outcome of shared navigational decisions. Experiments will examine the effects of group size and group composition on the mechanisms and accuracy of navigational decision-making, and the transmission of navigational information between individuals with differing levels of knowledge during a homing task, with additional scope for individual initiative to develop own interests and questions. In parallel, the student will be encouraged to explore relevant analytical techniques, including mathematical modelling and agent-based simulations informed by the data gathered during experiments. This combination of experimental work and computational modelling represents a unique opportunity in the growing field of collective animal behaviour. Homing pigeons have long been a model species in animal navigation research, and have recently emerged as a system suited particularly well to the study of group decision-making thanks to the ease with which the possession of information within flocks can be controlled, social interactions regulated, and the flow of information quantified. The questions explored in this project address fundamental issues in animal cognition, potentially relevant to a range of different species and to decision-making in a wide variety of contexts.
Application deadline:
16 February 2009
(applicants should have or be expected to gain at least a 2:1 in a suitable biologically or psychologically-related subject)
Visit
http://www.zoo.ox.ac.uk/students/postgrad/funded_studentships.htm
for further particulars and details of application procedure.