博士研究生（不限性别，m/f/d）| 动物群体间沟通与协调分析

该研究项目利用先进的追踪技术，通过分析社交物种的运动、行为及声学数据，探讨动物群体中的沟通与协调机制。博士生将自主提出研究问题，并对大量数据集进行定量分析，主要侧重于现有数据的研究，而非新的实地调查工作。

Project details: Research will involve designing and implementing quantitative analyses to answer questions about communication and/or collective behavior using large-scale datasets. Development of theoretical models may also be included depending on interest. The student will be expected to develop their own research questions, with support and guidance from an international team of collaborators. Because the main focus of the project will be on data analysis, limited fieldwork is envisioned. However, the student will have the opportunity to make a short-term visit to one or more field sites to gain insight into their study system(s). Available datasets and study systems: The student will have access to a wealth of existing data, including high-resolution movement, acoustic, and behavioral tracking of entire social groups in the wild collected using tracking collars. Our main study systems are meerkats, white-nosed coatis, and spotted hyenas, and we have collected whole-group tracking datasets from all three of these species. Please see our website for more information on our study systems and available data: CoCoMo . Potential project directions: The student will be expected to develop their own project in collaboration with the supervisor and research team. Projects should ideally make use of our existing datasets (see website), rather than focusing on new data collection. Examples of possible projects include: Vocal drivers of collective transitions: How do animal groups coordinate changes in activity state? This project would use data on the movements, vocalizations, and behaviors of entire social groups in the wild to explore how and why collective transitions occur - for example transitions from stopped to moving, changes in movement direction, or group splits and merges. The goal would be to reveal how individuals make behavioral decisions contingent on the behaviors and communication signals of their group mates, and how these decision-making rules scale up to produce transitions at the group level. Social dynamics of sleep: Sleep is a fundamental need across animal taxa, and many animals sleep in groups - yet surprisingly little is known about animal sleep in the wild. This project would use data from collar-mounted accelerometers to explore the social dynamics of sleep in wild animal groups. We have second-by-second information on individual activity levels across full days and for entire social groups across all of our main study species, allowing us to explore how sleep patterns vary across individuals and over time, and how they are influenced by short- and long-term social factors. Long-range signal cascades in animal populations: Long-distance vocalizations are common in social animals and are used in a variety of contexts, from territory advertisement to recruitment for collective defense. In many species, it has been reported that animals produce long-distance calls when they hear others calling; however, it is unknown whether these dyadic vocal interactions may give rise to longer-range information cascades that propagate across large spatial scales. In this highly exploratory project, the student would use grids of passive acoustic monitors to search for evidence of long-distance vocal cascades across different species. For this project, experience with deep learning is highly desirable, as vocalizations will need to be extracted from large, noisy bioacoustics datasets. Propose your own question and analysis: We are also happy for students to bring their own questions and creative ideas in the broad realm of communication and collective behavior, using our extensive group tracking datasets.

您的资质： 理想的申请者应热衷于运用定量方法解决生物学问题。该项目涉及对庞大复杂的数据集进行分析，因此具备编程经验（如R、Python、MATLAB等）以及解决复杂计算问题的热情至关重要。学生需主动开发并实施研究方案以推动项目进展，因此高度的独立性十分重要。鉴于该项目的合作性质，学生还需具备良好的人际交往能力，并热衷于作为国际跨学科团队的一员共同工作。 申请者应拥有任何科学领域的硕士学位，包括生物学、物理学、数学、计算机科学或工程学。该研究小组的通用语言为英语，无需具备德语能力。

我们提供的待遇： 该职位将获得全额资助，持续4年（根据TVöD工资标准，等级为E-13，占比65%）。 马克斯·普朗克科学促进学会致力于聘用更多严重残疾人士。 对于严重残疾人士的申请，我们明确欢迎其申请。 德国‌马克斯·普朗克科学促进学会‌致力于实现性别与多样性平等。 我们欢迎来自不同背景的申请者申请。

How to apply: Are you interested? Then we look forward to receiving your application by November 22, 2026 through our online portal . Please include the following documents: Letter of motivation / research statement (2 pages) addressing the following points: Research interests: Describe your main research interests, how they developed, and how they relate to the research we do in our group. (½ page) Research proposal: Spend some time exploring our website and prior publications. Then, choose one of the potential project directions listed above and describe 1-2 specific biological questions you would like to ask or hypotheses you would like to test within the scope of the project. Explain the analytical approach(es) you would use to address your question(s). Please include a mock figure (can be hand-drawn) of what your results might look like, and an interpretation of your potential findings (1-2 pages). (Please note that this section is an opportunity for you to develop your ideas and demonstrate how you would address scientific questions with quantitative approaches. This is not meant as a full-fledged PhD proposal, and you will not be expected to carry out the exact project you propose should you join our team!) Code example: Please provide an example of some code you have written, with a brief explanation of what it does (you can also link to a publicly accessible repository). The code does not have to relate to animal behavior, but it should be written by you and be something you can explain to others if needed. AI Declaration: Please indicate if you used AI in drafting your application, and if so describe briefly how you used it. Curriculum vitae (CV) 2 letters of reference A sample of your scientific writing (e.g., publication or manuscript in prep, thesis, term paper, etc.) Official or unofficial academic transcripts (translated into English)