Doctorat în Elveția

Două poziții de doctorand sunt disponibile la Institutul de Ecologie și Evoluție al Universității din Berna. Salarizările sunt anunțate a fii conforme cu planul de salarizare din Elveția, astfel că trebuie să fie un pic mai mari decât în România :D! Pentru cei interesați, mesajul original mai jos:

„2 PhD POSITIONS IN BEHAVIOURAL ECOLOGY

Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, Switzerland

1) PhD ‘GENETIC BASIS OF COOPERATION’: The aim of this PhD-project is to investigate the genetic basis of cooperative behaviour in highly
social African cichlids. These fish have turned into a model species
for studies of social evolution based on detailed information about
their ecology and behaviour, excellent possibilities for behavioural
and physiological experiments and recent sequencing of their full
genome. We shall pursue a dual approach: (1) a quantitative genetics
study employing a large-scale breeding experiment and (2) an
ecological genomics approach using molecular biology tools. The
project will involve intensive behavioural observations, quantitative
genetics modeling and lab work for brain gene expression analyses.
Eligible candidates will have a master’s degree (or Diplom) in Biology
and research experience in animal behaviour, a genuine understanding
of evolutionary theory and a strong commitment to basic science.
Practical skills in molecular and/or quantitative genetics techniques
and in empirical work with fish are beneficial, but not a
precondition. The project will be mostly based in Bern, but will
involve collaboration with two co-supervisors, Nadia Aubin-Horth
(University Laval, Canada) and Mathias Kölliker (University of Basel,
Switzerland). The position is part of the Doctoral Research Program
(“ProDoc”) funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation SNF on
“Proximate and ultimate causes of cooperation” and will connect up to
30 PhD students working on animal cooperation by a research network.
Supervisor of this project: Barbara Taborsky.

2) PhD ‘ALTERNATIVE REPRODUCTIVE TACTICS’: The aim of this PhD-project
is to study the adaptive responses to mating competition of
conspecifics pursuing alternative reproductive tactics (ARTs) that are
either fixed for life or dependent on condition. Evolutionary theory
predicts that negative frequency dependence will select for tactic
frequencies generating equal lifetime fitnesses when ARTs reflect
genetic morphs. In contrast, when ARTs are purely conditional they may
yield different fitness pay-offs. African cichlids showing both types
of ARTs will serve as experimental model for this study. It will
involve competitive in vitro fertilization experiments, behavioural
and environmental manipulations, and – depending on focus – field work
on Lake Tanganyika and/or research on physiological control
mechanisms. Eligible candidates will have a master’s degree (or
Diplom) in Biology and research experience in animal behaviour, a
genuine understanding of evolutionary theory and a strong commitment
to basic science. Practical skills in behavioural observation,
multivariate statistics, physiological techniques, empirical work with
fish and scientific publication (e.g. of the master’s thesis) will be
helpful, but are not a precondition. Supervisor of this project:
Michael Taborsky.

Both positions are for three years and should preferably start in early 2012.

The successful candidates will join a bustling research environment
consisting of ca. 15 PhD-students and advanced research staff, five
technicians and a varying number of master’s students and guest
scientists. Besides this Behavioural Ecology group, the Institute of
Ecology and Evolution at the University of Bern comprises research
groups in Aquatic Ecology (Ole Seehausen), Community Ecology (Wolfgang
Nentwig), Conservation Biology (Raphael Arlettaz), Evolutionary
Ecology (Heinz Richner) and Population Genetics (Laurent Excoffier).
Salaries will follow the schemes of the national funding organization
of Switzerland.

Closing date: Open until filled, but all application materials,
including CV, a summary of research experience, copies of any
published or in-press papers, and two letters of recommendation should
be received by 22 December 2011 to ensure full consideration.
Candidates should indicate in a cover letter for which position they
apply and when they could take it up. Please send all application
material to the secretary’s office, c/o Marlis Gerteis, Dept.
Behavioural Ecology, University of Bern, Wohlenstrasse 50A, CH-3032
Bern, Switzerland; or as e-mail attachments to
marlis.gerteis@iee.unibe.ch. Please consult our web-page for
information on our research: http://behav.zoology.unibe.ch/ For
inquiries please contact barbara.taborsky@iee.unibe.ch (position 1) or
michael.taborsky@iee.unibe.ch (position 2).”

Author: Horea Olosutean