Dear colleagues,
I am currently recruiting a fully funded PhD student in my research group at the University of Bristol, starting in September 2027.
The project, How do ants build responsive nests? From local construction rules to environmental plasticity, is available through the NERC GW4+ Doctoral Landscape Training Partnership. It will investigate how individual building decisions scale up to colony-level nest architecture, and how these construction rules change in response to environmental conditions.
The project combines experimental work with ants, automated behavioural analysis, computer vision, 3D imaging, machine learning and agent-based modelling, and would suit students interested in behavioural ecology, quantitative biology and computational approaches.
The studentship is open to both UK and international applicants, although the number of awards available to international candidates is limited. For particularly strong candidates, I may also have alternative funding routes available if they are not successful through the NERC competition.
I would be very grateful if you could circulate this opportunity to any students, recent graduates, society members or colleagues who may know suitable candidates. If any particularly strong candidates come to mind, I would also be very happy for you to encourage them to apply or to get in touch informally.
The project description is available here:
[project PDF link]
Full information about the application process is available here:
[GW4+ How to Apply link]
Further information on eligibility and funding is available here:
[University of Bristol NERC GW4+ page]
The application deadline is 7 January 2027 at 23:59 GMT.
Many thanks in advance for your help.
Best wishes,
Nathalie
Dr. Nathalie Stroeymeyt
Associate Professor in Behavioural Ecology
Office 105
School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol
24 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TQ