Research Associate/Fellow in Behaviour & Evolution (fixed term)

An exciting opportunity for a Research Associate/Fellow in Behaviour and Evolution is available to work with Professor Andrew MacColl at the University of Nottingham on a Leverhulme Trust funded project: “Don’t put your eggs in one basket: evolution of emancipation from parental care”. The primary aim of the project is to quantify the ecological causes and genomic basis of loss of parental care in three-spined stickleback fish, using a mixture of field work, field and behavioural experiments, classical genetics and bioinformatics.

The role holder will investigate the loss of male parental care in sympatric ecotypes of three-spined stickleback on the Scottish island of North Uist. The post will involve substantial fieldwork on North Uist, including conducting aquatic habitat surveys, carrying out large experiments to quantify behaviour and performing field experiments. The role holder will also investigate the genomic basis of parental care loss using genomic analyses of QTL experiments and tissue-specific expression data. They will lead on publishing the results of this work. Essential or desirable skills and experience (see role profile) include ecological fieldwork (especially in aquatic systems/with fish), behavioural experimentation and analysis, statistical data analysis (e.g. in R), molecular biology lab skills and familiarity with relevant scientific literature. 

Applicants must have, or be very near to completing, a PhD in a relevant subject (e.g. behaviour, evolutionary biology, genetics, ecology) and a track record of publishing their research in relevant journals, appropriate to career stage.

The position will be based in the School of Life Sciences, a large, diverse and supportive unit at the University of Nottingham, with diverse opportunities to interact with a wider group of evolutionary biologists and ecologists locally, in the UK, and with European research labs. You will work closely with other postdoctoral research associates studying ecological and genomic divergence between the ecotypes.

The post is offered on a full time (36.25 hours per week), fixed term contract until 30 April 2029. 

Potential applicants are encouraged to contact Andrew MacColl (andrew.maccoll@nottingham.ac.uk) with informal questions, in advance of applying. 

Closing Date: 11 Apr 2025 Category: Research and Teaching (R&T)