A bird ballet | Short Film from Neels CASTILLON on Vimeo.

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Hiring Organization: Ethologie Evolutive; Département d’Ecologie, Physiologie et Ethologie; Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien; 23, rue Becquerel f-67087 Strasbourg Cedex France

Position Description: full-time Post-doctoral researcher position (24 months) to investigate the mechanisms underlying information transmission in flies. The successful candidate is expected to spend a considerable amount of time to model artificial social networks and observed social networks from different tested groups of flies in order to know how the structure of the social network influence the speed of information transmission and temporal stability of traditions in Drosophila. Using multi-agent systems, the successful candidate will test different properties of observed and theoretical networks on a Markov chain process of diffusion.

Qualifications/Experience:
Required: We invite applications from students holding (or expecting to obtain prior to September 2012) a PhD in Bioinformatics with a strong expertise on social networks and animal societies or in Biology/Anthropology with a strong expertise on modelling and Graph Theory. Previous experience analyzing behavioural and diffusion/social data will be highly advantageous. Applicants should moreover be proficient in written and spoken English, have excellent social skills, and be able to work both independently and in a large, interdisciplinary team.

Beneficial: Matlab, JAABA, Ctrax, basic knowledge of French.

Salary/funding:
The salary will be in accordance with French national regulations for post-doctoral researchers and amounts to about 3996euros per month (fully charged, i.e. about 2200euros net basic salary).

Support provided for positions:
One national and one international Congress per year

Term of Appointment:
The initial appointment will be for 2 years and will begin on 1 May 2013.

Application Deadline:
1 March 2013

Comments:
Applications consisting of a cover letter stating research experience and interests, a detailed curriculum vitae, and the names and e-mail addresses of two referees can be sent electronically to Dr. Cédric Sueur, cedric.sueur@iphc.cnrs.fr.

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Online experimental social science involves using the web, including crowdsourcing platforms such as Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, to study human behavior in “virtual lab” environments. Among other topics, virtual labs have been used to study the relationship between financial incentives and performance, the honesty of online workers, advertising impact as a function of exposure time, the implicit cost of “bad ads”, the testing of graphical user interfaces eliciting probabilistic information and also the relationship between network structure and social dynamics, related to social phenomena such as cooperation, learning, and collective problem solving. Eligible applicants must hold a Ph.D. in Computer Science, Experimental Economics, Experimental Psychology, Statistics, Mathematical Sociology or a related field. The ideal applicant will possess a diverse mix of skills, including awareness of the theoretical and experimental social science literature, and experience with experimental design, as well as demonstrated statistical modeling and programming expertise. Programming knowledge should include server-side and browser-side languages, interaction with databases and third party APIs and facility with the R language for statistical computing. Specific experience running experiments on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk or related crowdsourcing websites, as well as managing virtual participant pools is also desirable, as is evidence of UI design ability. Postdoc researcher positions at Microsoft Research provide emerging scholars (Ph.D.s received in 2012 or to be conferred by July 2013) an opportunity to develop their research career and to interact with some of the top minds in the research community. The position also offers the potential to have research realized in products and services that will be used worldwide. Postdoc researchers are invited to define their own research agenda and demonstrate their ability to drive forward an effective program of research. [...]

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They use large-scale register data, selected field experiments, and the tools of analytical sociology and complexity science to better understand the processes through which schools, workplaces and neighborhoods become segregated. They seek independent researchers who can contribute to the further development of the methodological and theoretical foundations of the social sciences.

They are looking for people with expertise in the following areas:

• agent-based modeling
• econometric choice models
• analytical sociology (theory)

and with an interest in complexity science and interdisciplinary work.

These are two-year appointments with a start date of February 1 (or as soon thereafter as possible), but the appointment may be extended for an additional year. The starting salary in 38000 SEK (~$5,800) per month.

Please send your application to jobs@iffs.se no later than January 4. Interviews, if invited, will take place on January 15, either in Stockholm or via Skype.

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A postdoctoral position is available in a project studying the origin and implications of group structure in human social behavior and cultural change. Questions like: What maintains within-group cooperation in social dilemma situations? have been researched extensively, both theoretically and empirically. However, most of this research considers processes in isolated, homogenous groups. In reality, human social interactions take place in an environment where there are multiple levels of organizational hierarchy, and where there is heterogeneity among individuals and groups. The central tenet of current research project is that in order to understand the evolutionary origins and the day-to-day processes of human social behavior and culture, the multiple levels of human organizational hierarchy must be given explicit consideration. The applicant will be involved with design and execution of computer-mediated decision experiments to study how the interplay of between- and within-group interactions affects conflict and cooperation in human groups. The research project also involves a development of theory to complement the empirical studies, and theoretically oriented researchers are strongly encouraged to apply. The successful applicant is expected to play a key role in developing research within the research topic. See http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/276/1655/355 and http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/278/1723/3428 for previous published work in the group.

DURATION: The successful applicant can start the project in January 2013, but later starting dates are also negotiable. The position is first filled for two years, but can be extended up to five years.

SALARY: 37,000 – 41,000 per annum, depending on qualifications. Healthcare included.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: PhD in Biology, Mathematics, IT, Economics, or a related field. The applicant must possess a thorough understanding of evolutionary concepts. Excellent written and good oral English skills are required.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS: Good skills in experimental design and in statistical analysis of experimental data. Experience in programming and/or mathematical modelling is a definite plus.

THE PLACE & THE PEOPLE: The position is at the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. To quote a recent international evaluation: “This is a very happy, collaborative and successful department with highly motivated and enthusiastic members of uniform high quality.” The postdoc will join a group led by Dr. Mikael Puurtinen (Academy Research Fellow 2013-2017), which at the moment consists of the PI and two PhD students. The applicant will also become a member of the Centre of Excellence in Biological Interactions (https://www.jyu.fi/bioenv/en/divisions/coe-interactions), which offers excellent networking possibilities among top scientists.

DEADLINE: To ensure full consideration, applications should be received by December 15, 2012.

APPLICATION: In the application, include a statement of research interests (max 1 page), CV, and contact details for three references. Send the application by email to mikael.puurtinen@jyu.fi.

INFORMAL QUERIES are welcome, send email to mikael.puurtinen@jyu.fi.

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Today I’m about to become myself an advisor for a graduate student. She will start in January next year, and I want for her, and for the graduate students who will hopefully join my lab after her, the same opportunity that I had to boost my first year as a PhD student. But I would like to do it more efficiently and more systematically. I want to make sure that I don’t forget to tell one of my students about an important publication because I was too busy working on something else this particular week for instance. For this reason, I wanted to create a database that would ultimately list all the articles, books, reports, etc., that I believe all my students should know about when they join my lab.

I put together the first pieces of this database about two weeks ago, and I decided to make it available to anyone interested in the fascinating world of collective intelligence. After all, the internet is for sharing knowledge (though some think it’s for porn :-) ) and collective intelligence would not exist without mechanisms to share this knowledge. SwarmBib (it’s the name of the database) can now be accessed easily from this website by clicking on the link at the top right of the page or by visiting this address: http://www.theswarmlab.com/swarmbib.

This database is young and, for now, curated by me only. I try as much as I can to add 1 or 2 new references everyday to the database, but in the future, I hope that members, collaborators and friends of the Swarm Lab will join me to make it grow in quantity and quality. The ultimate goal is to gather into one freely accessible database all the most important scientific contributions to the study of collective and social behaviors, swarm intelligence and biological self-organization. You can already help me by identifying errors and broken links, or by suggesting important references and topics to be included in the database. Please send your comments and suggestions to swarmbib@theswarmlab.com.

If you find interesting references in the database, you can export all or parts of them in various formats (Bibtex and RIS in particular) and then easily import them in any reference management software. However, for obvious copyright issues, the database will not provide any electronic copies of the referenced documents. It will provide links toward legal (free and non free) copies of these documents. If you know where to find a free, legal copy of a document referenced in SwarmBib, please do not hesitate to send me the link at swarmbib@theswarmlab.com and I will update the database accordingly.

There is still a long way to go and SwarmBib can certainly be improved in many ways. Nevertheless I believe that it will become a very useful tool for me, for my students and hopefully for more people outside of my lab. If you think like me, then please spread the word around you and help me make SwarmBib a better tool for our students and our scientific community in general.

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If you are a postgraduate student or a postdoctoral researcher, and if your research is centered on Ecology and Behaviour, this meeting is for you. Come and present your results in a friendly atmosphere in front of an international audience of young researchers. No need to worry about organization, we’ll take care of everything: you only need to plan and pay for your travel ticket to Strasbourg.

Whether you are a student, a researcher or just curious, here is an opportunity to attend to an international congress, hear about the latest discoveries in Ecology and Behaviour and enjoy stimulating discussions with young researchers and guest speakers.

To contact us: serl2013.strasbourg@gmail.com

More information on the conference website : http://serl2013.sciencesconf.org/

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The Department of Zoology proposes to appoint a University Lecturer in the broad area of Animal Behaviour with effect from 1 October 2013. The successful candidate will be offered a Tutorial Fellowship by St Hugh’s College, under arrangements described in the further particulars. The combined University and College salary will be on a scale up to £57,581 per annum plus an additional College housing allowance of £7,410 per annum. Other allowances are detailed in the further particulars.

The Department of Zoology has broad research strengths in biological sciences, including animal behaviour, conservation, development, disease biology, ecology and evolution, spanning all levels of analysis and encompassing animals, bacteria, viruses and ecosystems (see http://www.zoo.ox.ac.uk). For the post of University Lecturer in Animal Behaviour, we are seeking a candidate with a strong research record in mechanistic or physiological approaches to animal behaviour. This may include (but is not limited to) sensory physiology, neuroethology, learning, cognition, collective behaviour, and behavioural genetics; we are not seeking to strengthen further our research in behavioural ecology without a strong mechanistic focus, or in purely theoretical studies of behaviour. This is an exciting opportunity to join a vibrant Department with internationally-recognized strengths in research and teaching, and to join a stimulating interdisciplinary community of scholars at St Hugh’s College.

Preference will be given to applicants with a strong background in mechanistic or physiological approaches to Animal Behaviour. The successful candidate will be expected to lead a research programme and research group, to give undergraduate lectures and tutorials, to supervise graduate students and to carry out examining and administrative duties in the Department and the College.

Further particulars, containing details of the application procedure and of the duties, may be obtained from peter.holland@zoo.ox.ac.uk or by visiting http://www.zoo.ox.ac.uk. The closing date for applications is noon on 10 December 2012.

Applications are particularly welcome from women and black and minority ethnic candidates, who are under-represented in academic posts in Oxford. The University is committed to equality and valuing diversity.

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Position #1: Autonomous Construction by a Team of Robots

The Miniature Mobile Robots group invites applications for a postdoctoral research position.

The research will involve development of the distributed planning and control system for a team of mobile robots to carry out the autonomous collaborative construction of roofed structures. The main focus is on the application of AI-based planning methods. The postdoctoral researcher will investigate different approaches to failure detection and recovery on the individual and collective level. This involves a good amount of experimentation with the real robots. The researcher will participate in the design of experimental environment and monitoring tools that are suitable for experimentation and validation of different approaches to construction tasks varying from bio-inspired mechanisms to more classical AI approach. The postdoctoral researcher will also take a part in the teaching and academic activities of the laboratory, which involve mentoring of PhD students.

Excellent programming skills are required for this position. Candidates should have a recent PhD in Computer Science, Robotics or related areas with a strong background in Hardware/Software Integration proved by publications. High expertise in C++ is required, as well as proficiency in Python or other scripting languages. Experience developing software in team using source code management (e.g. git) is a plus.

This research positions is within the context of the H2Swarm project funded by the European Science Foundation within the EUROCORES programme “Bio-inspired Engineering of Sensors, Actuators & Systems (EuroBioSAS). The position is limited to 18 months. Anticipated starting date is the January 1, 2013 or earlier. Please send a letter describing your research interests, a curriculum vitae and two academic references to Francesco Mondada.

Position#2: Automated Tracking for Animal-Robot Interaction Experiments

The Miniature Mobile Robots group invites applications for a postdoctoral research position.

The research will involve development of a tracking system that will be used to extract in real-time behavioral features of fishes and robots in experiments on animal-robot interaction. The postdoctoral researcher will test different animal tracking approaches (primarily visual, though other methods have to be also considered) to find the method that guarantees a reliable detection of individual fishes. Furthermore visualization tools have to be developed to monitor experiments and to represent behavioral statistics in an intuitive way. It is expected that the researcher will participate in the design of experimental setups that are suitable for an automated experimentation of mixed societies with fishes and a robotic swarm. The postdoctoral researcher will also participate in the teaching and academic activities of the laboratory.

Excellent programming skills are required for this position, and experience with tracking and visualization tools is desirable. Candidates should have a recent PhD in Computer Science, Robotics or related areas with a strong background in Computer Vision and Automated Tracking proved by publications. High expertise in C++ is required, as well as proficiency in Python or other scripting languages. Experience in the development of tracking systems for biological applications is desirable. Experience developing software in team using source code management (e.g. git) is a plus.

This research positions is funded by the EU-FP7-ICT “Fundamentals of Collective Adaptive Systems” project ASSISI . The position is limited to 30 months. Anticipated starting date is the early beginning of 2013. Please send a letter describing your research interests, a curriculum vitae and two academic references to Francesco Mondada

The post Two postdoc positions available at EPFL – “Autonomous Construction by a Team of Robots” and “Automated Tracking for Animal-Robot Interaction Experiments” appeared first on The Swarm Lab @ NJIT.

Following recent success, the Department of Civil Engineering is seeking to expand by appointing people with outstanding potential to contribute to its internationally leading education and research.

As part of this, following the recent appointments of Professor Eddie Wilson and Dr Anders Johansson, we seek an open-ended appointment in transport and mobility modelling.

The successful candidate will combine a proven research track record in transport and mobility applications with excellence in a technical domain relating to engineering, computer science or applied mathematics.

Applicants should apply online via www.bris.ac.uk/jobs, from where further particulars can be obtained including contacts for informal enquiries.

The deadline for applications is Friday 14th December 2012. Interviews will be held on Thursday 24th January 2013.

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