Research fellow position in the field of animal behaviour

The DFG Emmy Noether project “Maintaining the balance of power in animal societies” investigates how levelling processes, which may have different underlying mechanisms but exhibit functional convergence, constrain inequality in different species. Using long-term data (i), the PhD student will investigate the situational drivers of coalitionary formation in birds and mammals in collaboration with Eli Strauss (DomArchive) and Lauren Brent (Cayo Santiago, MacaqueNet). The PhD student project also involves collective movement experiments (ii) with robotic fish and small freshwater fish in the aquariums at the Humboldt University of Berlin, in collaboration with David Bierbach and Jens Krause. The PhD student will be supervised by the Emmy Noether Group Leader Danai Papageorgiou.

Your responsibilities

• scientific service in research in the DFG project incl. conducting collaborative work with the developers and contributors of large animal social interaction databases, such as DomArchive and MacaqueNet
• designing and conducting lab-based experiments with fish
• working with a robotic fish setup
• setting up and maintaining video tracking systems
• using computer vision tools to track collective movement
• data management and statistical analyses in R and Python
• presentation of results at scientific conferences and publication of results in peer-reviewed journals together with the project team
• tasks for personal scientific qualification (doctorate)

What you bring to the table

What we expect from you

• completed scientific university education (master or similar) preferably in Biology, Zoology, Animal Behaviour, or comparable disciplines
• experience with animal behaviour research
• profound knowledge in programming and statistical analysis, preferably in R and/or Python
• English skills, both written and spoken (at least C1)

What would be desirable

• advanced conceptual and critical thinking
• experience in peer-reviewed publishing
• experience in social behaviour observations and lab-based experiments with fish
• holding the animal testing certificate FELASA B, or equivalent
• high degree of independence, commitment, flexibility, and teamwork skills

Your path to the HU

Please send your application (Applications should include: a motivation letter (max. 1000 words), curriculum vitae, transcripts of records (for both BSc and MSc), copies of relevant certificates, abstracts of the Bachelor’s and Master’s theses, if applicable a list of any scientific publications, the names of two qualified persons who are willing to provide references, and any documents candidates feel may help us assess their competence), referencing the job ID DR/103/26 to Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Faculty of Life Sciences, Albrecht Daniel Thaer-Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences, Dr.Danai Papagerorgiou (located: Lentzeallee 75, 14195 Berlin), Unter den Linden 6, 10099 Berlin or preferably in electronic form as a single PDF file to: danai.papageorgiou@hu-berlin.de.

The position is scheduled to be filled on the earliest possible date.

The Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin is seeking to increase the proportion of women in research and teaching, and specifically encourages qualified female scholars to apply. Severely disabled applicants with equivalent qualifications will be given preferential consideration. People with an immigration history are specifically encouraged to apply. Since we will not return your documents, please submit copies in the application only.