Courses, Defenses & Events

January 18, 2026

IMPRS organised events in 2026

  • 1st conference on multiple global change factors and plant invasions, 30. March - 2. April 2026 in Konstanz, website
  • IMPRS Symposium: 16. - 17. April, tba
  • IMPRS PhD student retreat: 18. - 20. May 2026, Tübingen
  • Scientific Writing Workshop: 2. - 3. July 2026, U KN
  • Grant Proposal Writing Workshop: 6. - 7. July 2026, U KN
  • Welcome Week: 5. - 9. October 2026, U KN / Möggingen

Please also keep an eye on the courses, workshops, and coachings offered via the Planck Academy (MPG) and the Konstanz Research School (KRS) at the U KN!

 

Upcomming Events, Seminars, Courses

Behavior and Population Dynamics of Top Predators

Institute Seminar by John F. Benson
  • Date: Jan 20, 2026
  • Time: 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: John F. Benson
  • I have conducted field research on wildlife populations across much of North America studying wolves, mountain lions, black bears, coyotes, moose, mule deer, bighorn sheep, elk, white sharks, and other species. I am motivated by a desire to inform the conservation of wildlife and wild places – and by a fascination with the natural world. My work combines population, behavioral, molecular, and landscape ecology as I attempt to understand factors influencing individuals, populations, ecological communities, and ecosystems. In my lab at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, my students, postdocs, and I conduct intensive field studies around the world, asking questions grounded in ecological theory and using quantitative approaches to achieve practical outcomes and contribute to basic ecological understanding.
  • Location: Bückle St. 5a, 78467 Konstanz
  • Room: Seminar room MPI-AB Bücklestrasse + Online
  • Host: Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior
  • Contact: lrosales@ab.mpg.de
Top predators play important roles in ecological communities and yet their populations are declining globally in response to a variety of human-caused stressors. Large carnivores persist in some contemporary landscapes dominated by humans, presenting challenges and opportunities for conservation and ... [more]
Poster of course

MPI-AB Behavioural Ecology Graduate Course

MPIAB Behavioural Ecology Graduate Course: Lectures and discussions on behavioural ecology topics
  • Date: Jan 22, 2026
  • Time: 10:00 AM - 12:30 PM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Alex Jordan, Caroline Schuppli, Andrea Flack, Kamran Safi, Brendan Barrett, Meg Crofoot, Serena Ding, Urs Kalbitzer, Ari Strandburg-Peshkin, Barbara Fruth
  • MPI-AB group leaders, directors, senior scientists
  • Location: Bückle St. 5a, 78467 Konstanz
  • Room: Seminar room MPI-AB bücklestrasse 4.06
  • Host: Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior
  • Topic: Discussion and debate formats, lectures
  • Contact: ajordan@ab.mpg.de
During Winter semester 2025/2026 we are offering a graduate course in Behavioural Ecology. It will run every Thursday, beginning with a lecture followed by a discussion on three papers in the area. The 13-week course is open to all students and postdocs. [more]

Applying Tinbergen’s four questions to a conservation problem: Tolerance to humans in a social desert species

Institute Seminar by Oded Berger-Tal
  • Date: Jan 27, 2026
  • Time: 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Oded Berger-Tal
  • Oded Berger-Tal is an associate professor in the Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. His research group is conducting rigorous behavioral research aimed directly at mitigating conservation and wildlife management problems and advising the conservation and management decision-makers in Israel and beyond. In the past few years, in addition to conceptually developing the field of conservation behavior, he is focusing on topics such as developing non-lethal behavioral interventions to alleviate human-wildlife conflict, examining the impacts of various aspects of noise pollution (including infra-sound) on wildlife, understanding the mechanisms of high-tolerance to humans in wild Nubian ibex, studying the impacts of tourism on wildlife, and investigating the behavioral differences between animals utilizing anthropogenic environments and their less anthropogenically-exposed conspecifics.
  • Location: Bückle St. 5a, 78467 Konstanz
  • Room: Seminar room MPI-AB Bücklestrasse + Online
  • Host: Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior
  • Contact: refrat@ab.mpg.de
Conservation behavior is the application of animal behavior knowledge and methodologies to help conserve species and ecosystems. In order to ensure that behavioral research can indeed be useful in conservation contexts, the choice of the study system and research question has to be made together ... [more]
Poster of course

MPI-AB Behavioural Ecology Graduate Course

MPIAB Behavioural Ecology Graduate Course: Lectures and discussions on behavioural ecology topics
  • Date: Jan 29, 2026
  • Time: 10:00 AM - 12:30 PM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Alex Jordan, Caroline Schuppli, Andrea Flack, Kamran Safi, Brendan Barrett, Meg Crofoot, Serena Ding, Urs Kalbitzer, Ari Strandburg-Peshkin, Barbara Fruth
  • MPI-AB group leaders, directors, senior scientists
  • Location: Bückle St. 5a, 78467 Konstanz
  • Room: Seminar room MPI-AB bücklestrasse 4.06
  • Host: Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior
  • Topic: Discussion and debate formats, lectures
  • Contact: ajordan@ab.mpg.de
During Winter semester 2025/2026 we are offering a graduate course in Behavioural Ecology. It will run every Thursday, beginning with a lecture followed by a discussion on three papers in the area. The 13-week course is open to all students and postdocs. [more]

Spider sleep – what we know and what we still dream of

Institute Seminar by Daniela Rößler
  • Date: Feb 3, 2026
  • Time: 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Daniela Rößler
  • Fueled by curiosity and a deep love of natural history, Daniela Rößler’s academic career began with the study of visual signals and anti-predator adaptations in amphibians before shifting to arachnids—focusing on the remarkable cognitive abilities of jumping spiders. During her postdoc, Daniela discovered a REM-like sleep state in spiders and, building on this finding, she established a research group that uses integrative field, lab, and comparative approaches to investigate the function, ecology, and evolution of sleep across the spider tree of life. Her overarching goal is to highlight the influence of sleep on behavior more broadly and across taxa—an often-overlooked dimension in behavioral ecology.
  • Location: Bückle St. 5a, 78467 Konstanz
  • Room: Seminar room MPI-AB Bücklestrasse + Online
  • Host: Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior
  • Contact: asaralkar@ab.mpg.de
Much remains unknown about the diversity and evolution of sleep in invertebrates. Recent findings reveal compelling evidence for REM sleep–like behaviors in jumping spiders, including retinal movements and limb twitches. These behaviors, observed in a visually guided lineage far removed from ... [more]

Institute Seminar by Fabiola Iannarilli

Institute Seminar by Fabiola Iannarilli
  • Date: Feb 10, 2026
  • Time: 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Fabiola Iannarilli
  • Location: University of Konstanz + online
  • Room: ZT702 + online
  • Host: Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior
  • Contact: refrat@ab.mpg.de
[more]

Institute Seminar by Sissel Sjoberg

Institute Seminar by Sissel Sjoberg
  • Date: Apr 7, 2026
  • Time: 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Sissel Sjoberg
  • Host: Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior
  • Contact: ksokolovskis@ab.mpg.de
[more]

Do animals understand death

Institute Seminar by Susana Monsó
  • Date: Apr 14, 2026
  • Time: 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Susana Monsó
  • Susana Monsó is associate professor of philosophy in the Department of Logic, History, and Philosophy of Science at the National Distance Education University. Her work focuses on the socio-cognitive capacities of animals and their ethical implications. She has published in leading journals in her field, such as Philosophical Quarterly, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, and Philosophy of Science. Her book, Playing Possum: How Animals Understand Death (2024, Princeton University Press) was recommended in The New York Times and The Guardian and selected as one of the best books of 2024 by The New Yorker.
  • Host: Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior
  • Contact: zgoldsborough@ab.mpg.de
When the Virginia opossum feels threatened, she becomes paralysed, her body temperature drops, her breathing and heart rate are reduced to a minimum, her tongue turns blue, and her glands simulate the smell of rot. Despite her convincing corpse disguise, the opossum is paying close attention to her ... [more]

The ecology of collective behavior across oceanic scales

Institute Seminar by Will Oestreich
  • Date: Apr 21, 2026
  • Time: 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Will Oestreich
  • Will Oestreich studies animal behavior in dynamic and changing ecosystems. He is a group leader in the Department of Evolutionary Biology & Environmental Studies at the University of Zurich, and an affiliated researcher with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. Will has a particular interest in oceanic ecosystems, exploring how biophysical variation and information interact to shape behavior in the open and deep ocean. He also interrogates how we as humans can collectively understand, steward, & adapt to the changing ecosystems of which we are all a part.
  • Host: Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior
  • Contact: spashchevskaya@ab.mpg.de
Oceanic ecosystems comprise Earth's largest living space. In these vast, fluid, and mostly dark ecosystems, resources aggregate in patchy, fleeting hotspots of biological activity. These conditions pose immense challenges both for resident lifeforms and researchers seeking to elucidate their ... [more]

Institute Seminar by Leah P. Hollis

Institute Seminar by Leah P. Hollis
  • Date: May 26, 2026
  • Time: 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Leah P. Hollis
  • Host: Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior
[more]
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