PhD student in Animal Behaviour

The Department of Zoology is a department in the Faculty of Science and has approximately 80 employees, including researchers, doctoral students and administrative staff. Research and education at the department takes place in an international environment and focuses on animal biology. Outstanding and high-quality research is conducted in a range of different subjects, including animal behaviour, evolutionary biology, ecology, genomics, and conservation biology.
More information about us, please visit: the Department of Zoology.

Subject area

We are seeking a highly motivated PhD student to join an international research project led by Professor John Fitzpatrick that examines sexual selection in females. How sexual selection acts on female sexual ornaments remain poorly understood. This project aims to address this gap using a unique model system: the pygmy halfbeak (Dermogenys collettei).

Female halfbeaks express a conspicuous sexual ornament—an orange abdominal “gravid spot”—that males use when making mate choice decisions. This trait allows experimental manipulation of female ornamentation, providing an exceptional opportunity to test key evolutionary hypotheses. The PhD project will combine laboratory experiments, fieldwork in Southeast Asia (Malaysia and Singapore), and AI-assisted behavioural tracking to examine the costs, benefits, and ecological drivers of female sexual ornaments in halfbeaks.

The PhD student will take a leading role in experimental work, data collection, and quantitative analyses, and will contribute to international field sampling and collaborations. The project integrates evolutionary biology, behavioural ecology, and sensory ecology, and uses state-of-the-art automated tracking and phenotypic manipulation techniques.

This PhD provides broad training in experimental design, animal behaviour, evolutionary theory, advanced data analysis, and scientific writing, within a well-equipped research environment and an active international research network. You can learn more about our research and the lab environment here: www.su.se/english/profiles/j/jfrit.

Qualification requirements

In order to be admitted to postgraduate education, the applicant must have the general and specific entry requirements. The qualification requirements must be met by the deadline for applications.

You meet general entry requirements if you have completed a second-cycle degree, or completed courses equivalent to at least 240 higher education credits, of which 60 credits must be in the second cycle, or have otherwise acquired equivalent knowledge in Sweden or elsewhere.

For specific entry requirements to be admitted to a doctoral program in zoology, the applicant must have passed courses worth at least 120 credits in biology, or equivalent, and have completed an independent project in biology, or equivalent, worth at least 30 credits, at advanced level, with passing results. Exceptions to special eligibility may be made.

Selection

The selection among the eligible candidates will be based on their capacity to benefit from the training. The following criteria will be used to assess this capacity:

• documented knowledge in the field of animal behaviour and evolutionary biology
• capacity for analytical and creative thinking
• initiative
• independence
• ability to collaborate
• written and oral proficiency in English
• experience with field work is a merit but not required.

Admission Regulations for Doctoral Studies at Stockholm University.

About the employment

We offer a fixed-term employment as a doctoral student according to Chapter 5 of the Higher Education Ordinance (1993:100). The period of employment may not be longer than what corresponds to full-time doctoral education for four years. As a doctoral student, you should primarily devote yourself to your own doctoral education, but the employment may include work with education, research and administration to a limited extent (maximum 20 %).

A new employment as a doctoral student is for a maximum of one year, the employment is then renewed for a maximum of two years at a time.

Stockholm University strives to be a workplace free from discrimination and with equal opportunities for all.

Contact

For more information, please contact John Fitzpatrick, john.fitzpatrick@zoologi.su.se.

Application

Apply for the PhD student position at Stockholm University's recruitment system. Attach a personal letter and CV as well as the attachments requested in the application form. It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that the application is complete in accordance with the instructions in the job advertisement, and that it is submitted before the deadline.

The instructions for applicants are available at: How to apply for a position.