Applicants are sought for a PhD candidate as part of a funded four-year research program based on observations of distinct movement and location patterns of individual hens in large groups https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-29962-x. The project will consider a variety of developmental factors including early life stressors that lead to the described patterns as well as their relationship with the epigenome and social stability within and across animals.

The candidate will be involved in all aspects of the project including: experimental design, project coordination, data analysis, and presentations at conferences and peer-reviewed journal articles. The project will be based at the Center for Proper Housing of Poultry and Rabbits within the Division of Animal Welfare at the University of Bern http://www.tierschutz.vetsuisse.unibe.ch/content/index_eng.html with collaborators from Sweden and the United Kingdom. The salary will be based on regulations of the Swiss National Science Foundation which also funded the project.