PhD Position inAnimal Vocal Communicationon ‘Signal Diversification’With the launch of a new ‘NCCR Evolving Language’ (http://www.snf.ch/SiteCollectionDocuments/nfs/Faktenblatt_NCCR_evolvinglanguage_en.pdf), which involves nearly 40 different research groups from a large variety of disciplines across Switzerland, we seek to fill a PhD positionin animal vocal communication.Our goal is to identify howanimal communication andthe use and structure of human language is constrained and shaped by pre-established structure-meaning signals, and how novel, arbitrary structuresevolve and diversify under different social and ecological conditions. In this work package we carry out experimental research with animals and observational research on human language. Within thisparticularPhD project, we will investigate call flexibility and cognitive constraints in production and in perceptionon captivemeerkats and seals, applying among other methods conditioning tests.The successful PhD student in animal vocal communicationwill become part of an inter-disciplinary team of scientistsat the University of Zurichtackling the topic of animal signal diversification reaching into language evolution. Research supervision of this work package will be assumed collectively by Profs Marta Manser (Animal Behaviour), Paul Widmer (Comparative Linguistics), Balthasar Bickel (Comparative Linguistics), Kentaro Shimizu (Genetics) and possibly others. The candidate will join the Animal Communicationgroup at the Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies(https://www.ieu.uzh.ch/en/research/behaviour/cognition.html)where she/hewill become part of a team with expertiseinanimal vocal communication, bioacoustics,and animal cognition. The main task will be to design and perform experiments on captive animal populations to identify thecognitive and/or morphometric constraints on the production and perception of novel acoustically structured calls.The successful candidate will have an MScin Animal Behaviour, ideallywith a specialization in animal vocal communication and conditioningmethods,experience to work with animals,a strong interestincomparative cognition and linguistics,anda solid background in statistics (e.g. R, Python). We look for evidence of personal initiative and seek candidates who have excellent teamwork skills and are interested to go beyond disciplinary boundaries.The working language in the group is English, German skills are not essential. Start date: September1, 2020Please submit the following documents and information as a single PDF tomarta.manser@uzh.ch(whom you may contact for further information) andpaul.widmer@uzh.ch:–cover letter emphasizing motivation to apply (1 page max.)–curriculum vitae–contacts of two referees–writing sample (e.g. summary of MSc thesis; 2 pages max.)The NCCR places great emphasis on gender balance; we particularly encourage women to apply.The position is available until filled (first deadline: 29May2020).