Senior Postdoctoral Research Associate Evolutionary Social Ecology Grade 7: Salary: £28,839 - £32,458 p.a.
A senior postdoctoral position is available, for five years, from 1 April 2010, to study social networks in birds from an ecological and evolutionary perspective. The post is funded as part of an ERC Advanced Investigator grant of 2.5M over five years to Prof Ben Sheldon. The post will be based in the Edward Grey Institute, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford. The main duties of the post-holder will be to study the causes and consequences of variation in social behaviour at the individual level; to study variation in the properties of social networks at a range of scales, and to design and carry-out experiments to test hypotheses derived in the course of this work. In addition, the post holder will be expected to play an important role in discussing and helping to plan the work of other postdocs, research assistants, and graduate students working on this project. This is an exceptional opportunity to participate in the development of a major research project, for which extensive pilot data are already available, and funding is guaranteed at a very high level. The successful candidate will have a PhD in behavioural ecology, ecology, evolutionary biology or a related subject, and proven skills in the use of multivariate statistics (skills in spatial analysis, mark-recapture and multi-level modelling or network analysis an advantage) and in writing and publishing papers in leading journals in the field. In addition, experience of supervision in a research context, and working as part of a multi-disciplinary team are desirable. There will be an opportunity to carry out fieldwork if desired, but previous fieldwork experience and knowledge of avian biology are not vital. The post is based in a dynamic and expanding research-active institute, of c. 40 people, fully integrated within the Department of Zoology. Further details about the institute available at: http://www.zoo.ox.ac.uk/egi/ Informal inquiries (with CV) to Prof Ben Sheldon (ben.shel...@zoo.ox.ac.uk) Start date 1 April 2010. Further particulars and application forms can be downloaded from http://www.zoo.ox.ac.uk/jobs or are available from the Personnel Office, Department of Zoology, Tinbergen Building, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS (tel: 01865 271190); email: recr...@zoo.ox.ac.uk . Applications, together with CV and contact details of three referees, an electronic copy of three publications and a cover letter explaining how the candidate meets the selection criteria, as outlined in the further particulars, should be sent to the above address quoting reference number AT09041. The closing date for applications is 5 February 2010. Interviews will take place in late February.
