PhD Scholarship Quantitative genetics of senescence in Seychelles warblers

Scholarship opportunities

We are looking for a student who wishes to design their own PhD research project researching the genomics of senescence. You will be supervised by Hannah Dugdale (RUG; https://hannahdugdale.wordpress.com ) and David S Richardson (UEA; https://people.uea.ac.uk/david_richardson ).

This is a double degree at RUG and UEA, embeded for four years in the Seychelles Warbler Project (http://seychelles-warbler-project.group.shef.ac.uk ). For the first two-years you will be based at RUG and for the second two-years you will be based at UEA. You will conduct fieldwork in the Seychelles for a minimum of three seasons (up to 3 months per season), with a COVID-19 contingency plan. You will be part of a team of PhD students, post-docs, and staff who are using long-term individual-based datasets of natural populations to improve understanding of life-history evolution.

As a PhD scholarship student, you will develop your own research project in consultation with the associated supervisors. You will conduct independent and original scientific research, report results via peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations, and ultimately a PhD thesis. The PhD thesis has to be completed within four years. Being part of a cutting-edge research programme, you will receive training in the form of hands-on instruction, advanced courses, summer/winter schools, as well as complementary workshops on generic research and transferable skills. Special attention is paid to training activities directed towards your future (academic or non-academic) career after the PhD trajectory, in the context of the RUG’s Career Perspective Series, and the Doctoral College and Doctoral Training Partnerships at UEA.

Project
Individuals deteriorate with age –a process known as senescence– but individuals within a single population often differ a lot in how they age. Why??? The causes of individual differences in senescence patterns remain poorly understood. Genetic variation is hypothesised to play a major role in determining individual senescence patterns. Quantitative genetics allows estimation of the genetic variation underlying senescence. You will investigate the relative impact of environmental and genetic factors on senescence using the model Seychelles warbler system. You will have access to the exceptional Seychelles warbler study population and the associated long-term dataset, genetic pedigree and whole genome data. Potential research questions are: 1) Is there synchrony of senescence across morphological, physiological and behavioural traits? 2) Is there a live-fast die-young trade off, with a negative genetic correlation between early-life fecundity and lifespan, and a positive correlation between age of first and last reproduction; 3) How does the additive genetic variation of traits that senesce change with age?; 4) What is the genetic architecture of senescence – is it polygenic, whereby the additive genetic variance of traits that senescence is proportional to the length of different genomic regions?; and, 5) Do genomic regions underpinning senescence covary with fitness?

References
Hammers M, Kingma SA, van Boheemen LA, Sparks A, Burke T, Dugdale HL, Richardson DS, Komdeur J. 2021. Helpers compensate for age-related declines in parental care and offspring survival in a cooperatively breeding bird. Evolution Letters 5, 143-153

Hammers M, Kingma SA, Bebbington K, van de Crommenacker J, Spurgin LG, Richardson DS, Burke TA, Dugdale HL, Komdeur J (2015) Senescence in the wild: Insights from a long-term study on Seychelles warblers. Experimental Gerontology, 71, 69–79

Raj Pant S, Hammers M, Komdeur J, Burke T, Dugdale HL, Richardson DS (2020) Age-dependent changes in infidelity in Seychelles warblers. Molecular Ecology 29, 3731-3746

Sparks AM, Spurgin LG, van der Velde M, Fairfield EA, Komdeur J, Burke T, Richardson DS, Dugdale HL (2021) Telomere heritability and parental age at conception effects in a wild avian population. Molecular Ecology doi: 10.1111/mec.15804

Qualifications

We are looking for a candidate who:

• holds a Master degree (or will graduate before appointment date) in Evolutionary Biology or a relevant field
• is curiosity driven and passionate about fundamental research in the context of genomics and senescence
• has previous experience of bird ringing and conducting fieldwork in harsh environments (training will be provided)
• has strong quantitative skills in statistics and bioinformatics (training will be provided)
• has experience in extracting and analysing data from databases (e.g. Access) or large datasets (training will be provided)
• is a team player, willing to work with a diverse group of researchers and technicians, and can also work independently
• has strong communication skills and is motivated to disseminate results to both scientific peers and a broad audience
• is proficient in the English language (https://www.rug.nl/(...)ion/english?lang=en; https://www.uea.ac.uk/(...)nguage-equivalencies )
• is strongly motivated to obtain a PhD degree.

Organisation

We offer 1 full scholarship for a PhD project investigating the quantitative genetics and genomics of senescence in an island population of Seychelles warblers. This is a double-degree/cotutelle position at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, and the University of East Anglia, UK.

The Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Live Sciences (GELIFES), Faculty of Science and Engineering, invites applications for a fully-funded, four-year scholarship PhD position in its Behavioural and Physiological Ecology group. This is a double-degree with the School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of East Anglia.

University of Groningen (RUG)
Founded in 1614, the University of Groningen enjoys an international reputation as a dynamic and innovative center of higher education offering high-quality teaching and research. Flexible study programme and academic career opportunities in a wide variety of disciplines encourage the 36,000 students and researchers alike to develop their own individual talents. Quality has been our top priority for over four hundred years, and with success: the University is currently in or around the top 100 on several influential ranking lists.

GELIFES, Faculty of Science and Engineering, RUG
The Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences (GELIFES), one of the larger institutes of the Faculty of Science and Engineering (FSE), fills a special niche in the life sciences by covering and integrating mechanistic, evolutionary and ecological approaches, aiming to understand adaptation on all levels of biological organization. Researchers pursue fundamental questions while collaborating with partners from nature conservation, industry, medicine and other realms of society. Our research fields include ecology, conservation biology, evolutionary biology, behavioural biology, chronobiology, genetics and genomics, neurobiology, physiology and theoretical modelling, using a wide array of research tools.

University of East Anglia (UEA)
UEA is a world leading research institution – with especially strong focus on environmental and life sciences research – and renowned for its student experience. It provides world-class academic, social and cultural facilities to over 15,000 students from more than 100 countries. UEA was established in 1963 on a 320-acre campus, which is home to a global community pursuing personal and professional success. At UEA researchers come together from different fields to learn, innovate, collaborate and help create a better future. UEA is committed to making a substantial impact on the global challenges facing society. Our postgraduate researchers work at the heart of active research teams, challenging boundaries and making real advances.

School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, UEA
The School of Biological Sciences is a school of diverse students, driven researchers, curiosity, and novel discoveries. Our interests span the biological sciences, from biochemistry to microbiology, cell biology, biomedicine, evolutionary biology, ecology, conservation and plant biology. Our focus on skills development inspires students to excel at teamwork, data analysis and communication as well as research and learning. We're embedded in the Norwich Research Park, which boasts one of the largest concentrations of life scientists in Europe. Our researchers excel in their fields, and in the creation of wider impact for their work. We're a community generating exciting breakthroughs and pioneering applications.

Conditions

The position is offered within the RUG PhD Scholarship Programme. This programme is issued by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science (OCW) within the framework of the national PhD Scholarship Programme. The double-degree/cotutelle PhD scholarship student will receive a scholarship (stipend) of € 2,249 per month (gross) from the University of Groningen for the first two years of the 4-year PhD. This amount is adjusted annually on the basis of the CBS consumer price index. PhD scholarship students are not employed by the university. PhD scholarship students therefore have different rights, obligations, and a different income than employed PhD candidates. Please consider the terms and conditions of the PhD Scholarship Programme on the following website: https://www.rug.nl/(...)nditions-application

The University of East Anglia offer a Cotutelle Scholarship, for the last two-years of the 4-year PhD. The Cotutelle scholarship comprises the equivalent of a full-fees award and stipend for the normal full-fee paying period up to 2 years. Scholarship holders will be expected to have submitted their thesis for examination by the end of that period. The scholarships will comprise a full-fees awards and a (untaxed) stipend paid at the current RTP stipend rate for 2021 (£15,609 per annum) and indexed in future years. All International students entering study at UEA must have a Student visa which satisfies the minimum requirement financially and for English language, as laid out by the UK Visa and Immigration Department (see UKVI website for current details). It is important that the student understands their immigration status before applying.

Application

You may apply for this position until 31 March 11:59pm / before 1 April 2022 Dutch local time (CET) by means of the application form (click on "Apply" below on the advertisement on the university website).

UEA, the Faculty of Science, and the School of Biological Sciences, are all committed to the principles of the Athena SWAN Charter – “recognising advancement of gender equality: representation, progression and success for all.” The Athena SWAN Awards recognise where institutions are working to ensure that gender equality is embedded in their working environment and culture. In 2013, the School of Biological Sciences was awarded an Athena SWAN Bronze Award, and in November 2016 we achieved our Silver Award. The Equality, Diversion and Inclusion Committee at the School of Biological Sciences was set up in 2012, to explore how we can increase support for groups who are traditionally under-represented in STEMM subjects (science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine). Learn more about our progress towards Equity, Diversity and Inclusion: https://ueabioathenaswan.wordpress.com/about

Timeline
Deadline for application: 31 March 2022
Interviews: mid-April 2022
Start of the position: 1 August or 1 September 2022

The University of Groningen strives to be a university in which students and staff are respected and feel at home, regardless of differences in background, experiences, perspectives, and identities. We believe that working on our core values of inclusion and equality are a joint responsibility and we are constructively working on creating a socially safe environment. Diversity among students and staff members enriches academic debate and contributes to the quality of our teaching and research. We therefore invite applicants from underrepresented groups in particular to apply. For more information, see also our diversity policy webpage: https://www.rug.nl/(...)rsity-and-inclusion/
Our selection procedure follows the guidelines of the Recruitment code (NVP), https://www.nvp-hrnetwerk.nl/sollicitatiecode/ and European Commission's European Code of Conduct for recruitment of researchers, https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/charter/code

Unsolicited marketing is not appreciated.

Information

For information you can contact:

• Prof. Hannah Dugdale, [email protected]
• Prof. David S Richardson, [email protected]

Please do not use the e-mail address(es) above for applications.

Apply