dimanche 23 août 2015

Postdoc position in Animal Behaviour

On Vocal communication and cognition in meerkats (Suricata suricatta) at the University of Zurich, Switzerland 

A three year postdoctoral position in animal behaviour is available at the University of Zurich working with Prof Marta Manser and her international team. The research involves behavioural and vocal studies on meerkats, with fieldwork performed at the Kalahari Meerkat Project in South Africa. Within this framework, several aspects of research can be pursued including: causes and consequences of the variation in vocal signals; the flexibility and intentionality in the production and perception of vocal signals; playback experiments documenting knowledge about other group members; underlying cognitive mechanisms in vocal communication and social interactions; etc... The tasks will consist of collecting observational and experimental data in the natural habitat of the meerkat, as well as the analysis of longterm data. The postdoc will be responsible for: (1) conducting the field research; (2) analyses of behavioural and acoustic data; (3) involvement in supervision of our field assistants, MSc and PhD students in the field and back in Zurich; and 4) helping to organise the field site in South Africa and the captive group in Zurich. We welcome highly motivated applicants with PhDs in Biology/Zoology and related fields. Applicants must have a strong background in collecting and analysing behavioural data. People with experience in acoustic research (i.e. acoustic analysis and playback experiments) are preferred. The working language in the group is English, German skills are not essential. The position is available from September 2015, target application date is August 10th 2015, but open until a suitable candidate has been found. Applicants should please send a cover letter with a brief statement of their research interests, a C.V. (including publication list), and the names and contact details of three referees. Applications (preferably as a single pdf file) and informal inquiries should be sent to: marta.manser@ieu.uzh.ch information on our group: http://www.ieu.uzh.ch/research/behaviour/cognition.html; http://www.kalahari-meerkats.com/