PhD Opportunity, fully funded by the BBSRC South West Biosciences Doctoral Training Partnership
Corvid connections: how do social bonds influence stress, health, nutrition and cultural knowledge?
Supervisors:
Alex Thornton, Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus,
Andrew
King, Biosciences, Swansea
Camille Bonnead, CEC, University of Exeter
Ines Fuertbauer, Biosciences, Swansea
We are looking for a highly motivated, talented student with broad interests in animal behaviour, cognition and health. The project will be based at the University of Exeter’s Penryn Campus in beautiful Cornwall with additional work in Swansea.
Full details of how to apply are here:
https://www.exeter.ac.uk/study/funding/award/?id=4282
If you have any questions about the project, please write to alex.thornton@exeter.ac.uk
Project Description
Like
humans, many animals form stable social relationships between specific
individuals. These relationships can be extremely beneficial: in humans
and other primates individuals with
strong relationships tend to be healthier and less anxious. However,
there has been little research on other animals and it is not clear how
the benefits of social relationships trade off against costs. For
instance, spending time with social partners could
improve immune function but also increase exposure to infections.
Similarly, if you spend most of your time with particular partners you
risk missing out on opportunities to learn valuable information from
others. To understand these trade-offs and shed light
on how and why social relationships evolve, this interdisciplinary
project will study jackdaws living in their natural environments where
they are subject to competition, predation and disease. Using a
combination of state-of the art field experiments, non-invasive
stress assays and physiological measures you will examine how variation
in the strength of social relationships influences individual stress
levels, health and the acquisition of food and knowledge.
In
addition, due to the strong mathematical component of the taught course
in the first year and the quantitative emphasis in our projects, a
minimum of a grade B in A-level Maths or
an equivalent qualification or experience is required.
Eligibility
To be eligible for a fully-funded studentship, you must meet both the academic and residence criteria.
A fully-funded four year SWBio DTP studentship will cover
• a stipend* at the standard Research Council UK rate; currently £15,609 per annum for 2021-22
• research and training costs
• tuition fees (at the standard Research Councils UK rate)
• additional funds to support fieldwork, conferences and a 3-month internship