Position Description: Dr. Alexandra Rosati ([email protected]) at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and Dr. Zarin Machanda ([email protected]) at Tufts University are each accepting applications for a postdoctoral fellow for an NSF-funded project on the evolution of leadership in chimpanzees. This collaborative project is led by a network of four PIs, also including Dr. Melissa Emery Thompson and Dr. Martin Muller at the University of New Mexico.

Please see https://tinyurl.com/y4g4uoe9 for more information and links to both specific job ads to apply.

Project information: This project is funded for three years, and both postdoctoral appointments can be extended for the duration of the project. The Michigan postdoc will be based with The Cognitive Evolution Group and will lead the research with sanctuary-living chimpanzees. The Tufts postdoc will be based with The Kibale Chimpanzee Project at Tufts University and will lead the work on wild chimpanzees. Both postdocs will work closely with all four PIs, each other, and a team of graduate students and undergraduates across the three participating universities. This will include several group-wide joint meetings as well as field exchanges during the course of the project.

Qualifications: We are looking for candidates that are excited to lead data collection at international field sites, where they will work with a diverse team, comprising both US-based students and researchers and African research assistants. Candidates should be motivated, organized, comfortable in difficult field conditions, have good communication and interpersonal skills and quantitative skills. Candidate should be able to produce high-quality, published scientific research as well as present this work to the public at scientific conferences and in educational outreach. Both UM and Tufts are equal opportunity employers.

This research project will comprise a mix of experiments, biosampling, and observational techniques in the field and at the sanctuary, with expertise shared across the participating institutions. The postdoctoral fellow based at Michigan should have clear expertise in conducting experimental studies of cognition (research with primates specifically is ideal), and the postdoctoral fellow based at Tufts should have clear expertise in behavioral observational methods with wild animals (again research with primates specifically is ideal). Working knowledge of statistical programs (e.g., R) and analysis of large, multitvariate datasets, or willingness to learn these skills, is important. For both candidates, additional expertise in psychological methods, observational methods, and biological samples/hormone assays, or an interest in acquiring these skills, is also a strong plus.