Your Tasks

We are looking for a highly motivated candidate to work within the biology research cluster led by Dr. Marisa Hoeschele. The specific PhD project will be determined based on the particular candidate and their interests, however it should be a theme that matches our ongoing research. Specifically, we are looking for someone to continue work on either 1) cross-species musicality – learning about the origins of music through studying parallels across species or 2) developing ways to study whether complex learned animal vocalizations can be considered a kind of “language”. 

This position involves comparative cross-species research with humans and other animals, particularly budgerigars, which we have in our lab. The budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus) is a small parrot species, that has many parallels to humans in terms of musicality, such as the ability to learn new vocalizations and being able to track and move to a beat. However, it is also possible to work with other species via collaborations with other labs in the city. A single species project (including humans) may also be considered if it connects with cross-species data.