We are seeking a Post-doctoral researcher who will be responsible for designing and conducting research with primates and human children.

Primary responsibilities include designing and conducting experiments, liaising with staff and other researchers in Edinburgh zoo to conduct studies there with capuchin monkeys and chimpanzees, travelling to other research sites to run studies on other groups of captive chimpanzees, recruiting child participants and maintaining participant records, assisting the PI in training and managing undergraduate and postgraduate research students, and initiating and maintaining relationships with nurseries, museums and other recruitment sites.

Other activities include data analysis and the preparation of research for publication, assisting with the design and creation of experimental stimuli, public engagement with science activities, and generally facilitating research in the lab.

The appointee will be working on the ERC project “The Evolutionary and Developmental Origins of Inquiring Minds: Studies of Causal Reasoning; Curiosity and Executive Control” under the supervision of PI Dr Amanda Seed. The goal of the project is to use cross-sectional testing of non-human primates and human children to explore the relationship between causal cognition and executive function in the development and evolution of problem-solving skill.

The successful candidate will have a PhD in Comparative or Developmental Psychology, research experience with primates and children, excellent interpersonal and organizational skills, experience with data analysis and statistics, evidence of knowledge of the research area, and a good publication record commensurate with level of experience. Desirable skills include experience building experimental apparatus, developing and maintaining databases and websites, programming skills (e.g., Matlab, R, Java), experience supervising research projects, and experience with Photoshop, Flash or other image and animation software.

This is a fixed term post for 3 years.

Applications are particularly welcome from women, who are under-represented in Science posts at the University.  You can find out more about Equality & Diversity at https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/hr/edi/.

The University of St Andrews is committed to promoting equality of opportunity for all, which is further demonstrated through its working on the Gender and Race Equality Charters and being awarded the Athena SWAN award for women in science, HR Excellence in Research Award and the LGBT Charter;  http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/hr/edi/diversityawards/. 

Please quote ref:  AR1730SB

Closing Date:  15 February 2016
 
Further Particulars:  AR1730SB FPs.pdf

School of Psychology and Neuroscience
Salary: £31,656 - £37,768 per annum
Start: As soon as possible
Fixed term for 3 years