The Universität Hamburg invites applications for a Research Associate for the project "Information use in an unpredictable environment – a case study on wild zebra finches" in accordance with § 28 (3) of Hamburg's Higher Education Act (HmbHG*). The position commences on 1.5.2015 (or soon thereafter) and is funded by a grant of the German Science Foundation to Dr. Wiebke Schuett (Principal Investigator; University of Hamburg, Germany) and Prof. Dr. Simon Griffith (International Co-Investigator; Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia).

The position is remunerated at the salary level TV-L 13 (65%).
The short-term nature of this contract is based upon § 2 of the Academic Short-Term Labor Contract Act (WissZeitVG). The term is fixed for 3 years.
The University aims to increase the number of women in research and teaching and explicitly encourages women to apply. Equally qualified female applicants will receive preference in accordance with Hamburg’s Higher Education Act (HmbHG).
Tasks:
Duties include academic services in the project named above. Research associates can also pursue independent research and further academic qualifications.
Area(s) of Responsibility:
We offer a PhD position in (Behavioural) Ecology. The successful candidate will be responsible for the day-to-day running of lab and field experiments in the opportunistically breeding zebra finch, Taeniopygia guttata, in Australia, to address unresolved key issues in information ecology linked to unpredictable environmental conditions. In a series of experiments we will assess how different information sources (social information vs. personal information) will influence whether individuals decide to breed in an area/and how much to invest per breeding attempt (including also hormonal allocation into egg yolks). Furthermore, we will test how an individual’s life-history (solitary resident vs. colonial nomadic breeder) will influence information sampling and subsequent decision-making. The PhD candidate will prepare and analyse data, write scientific manuscripts for publication in international journals, present the work at conferences and will assist in supervising students. We also offer the PhD candidate the opportunity to apply for a PhD jointly awarded between the University of Hamburg and Macquarie University. The PhD candidate will spend (in total) at least one year each in Germany and Australia.
Requirements:
We seek a candidate of any nationality with a Master degree (or equivalent) in Biology or an-other relevant subject. A Master degree with focus on (Behavioural) Ecology will be preferred. We expect a highly motivated, bright, talented, wellorganised and meticulous candidate with computational skills, who is able to work under physically highly demanding and extreme field * Hamburg Higher Education Act
** Full-time positions currently comprise 39 hours per week.
conditions and who is skilled in working independently as well as in a team. The candidate will have a strong interest and a solid background in Behavioural Ecology, Field Ecology, Information Ecology and/or Experimental Ecology. Previous experience in collecting data in the field, working with birds, behavioural observations, hormonal analyses, statistical modelling (preferentially in R) is advantageous. Fluent English (written and spoken) is a prerequisite, a working knowledge of German is a bonus.
Severely disabled applicants will receive preference over equally qualified non-disabled applicants.
For further information, please contact Dr. Wiebke Schuett ( Tato emailová adresa je chráněna před spamboty, abyste ji viděli, povolte JavaScript ) or consult our websites at
http://www.uni-hamburg.de/biologie/BioZ/zis/vb_e.html and http://bio.mq.edu.au/research/groups/avianbehaviouralecology/
Applications should be prepared in English as a single pdf file and should include a cover letter with a description of research interests (max. 2 pages), curriculum vitae (max. 2 pages), contact details of two referees, the abstract of your MSc thesis and copies of degree certificate(s) (in-cluding marks). The application deadline is 16.2.2015. Interviews will be held beginning of March. Please send applications to:
Dr. Wiebke Schuett (PhD)
Tato emailová adresa je chráněna před spamboty, abyste ji viděli, povolte JavaScript
Zoological Institute & Zoological Museum
Biocenter Grindel
University of Hamburg
Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3
20146 Hamburg
Germany.