Neurobiology and collective behaviour, Sensory integration and decision making in insect groups

Supervisor: Dr. Einat Couzin-Fuchs

The Couzin-Fuchs group is looking for a doctoral candidate to join our research on the neural basis of swarming.

Group-living animals have the potential to benefit from pooling their own acquired information with
information from others. By monitoring the behaviour of conspecifics individuals may be able to make faster, more accurate assessments of their environment. Our group is investigating the neural circuits underlying sensory integration and decision-making in dynamic social contexts by combining behavioral studies in the lab and the field, functional imaging, and electrophysiology in group-living insects such as locusts and cockroaches.

You will join our interdisciplinary team at the neurobiology department,
and the Excellence Cluster for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour. The successful candidate will have the chance to implement new technologies developed at our centre for animal tracking, immersive virtual reality, functional imaging techniques in widefield and 2 photon microscopy, and minimally-invasive electrophysiology.

Requirements:
• MSc in neuroscience or a related field.
• Proficiency in at least one programming language (Matlab, Python), or willingness to learn one.
• Good communication and writing skills are essential.
• Familiarity with multiphoton calcium imaging, electrophysiology and instrumentation control for behavioural
neuroscience is beneficial.

Start date: spring 2023

Interested candidates should apply via the IMPRS online platform and include a research statement (<1 page with your academic background, research experience, interests and goals) among the other requests in the application form.

Main Supervisor: Einat Couzin-Fuchs einat.couzin@uni-konstanz.de

The University of Konstanz and the Max Planck Society are equal opportunity employers that are committed
to provide employment opportunities to all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, age,
sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or disability. They seek to increase the number of
women in those areas where they are underrepresented and therefore explicitly encourage women to apply.