Postdoctoral Research Associate in Cognitive Evolution Deep Time

Job Description

Grade UE07: £41,064 - £48,822 per annum

CSE / School of Geo Sciences

Full-time: 35 hours per week

Fixed-term: from January 2027 until 31 December 2028

The University of Edinburgh is a world-class organisation. We look for the best in the field across all disciplines and provide a working environment where academics can develop their careers and passion for their chosen subject area.

The University is part of a local community and a contributor to global thinking, progress and research. In Edinburgh, you are in one of the world's most attractive cities with active arts and social sectors, while working in a University that has made significant contributions to society, medicine, physics and teaching for over four centuries. Our people have helped create the modern world and are working on more ground-breaking technologies and practices.

We seek an interdisciplinary scientist to join our international team studying the evolution of brains, intelligence, and cognition over deep time. Our Deep Time Cognition team-funded by the Swedish Research Council-combines expertise in cognitive zoology, neurobiology, and palaeontology to understand how cognition and brains have evolved in concert over eons, and what has driven this evolution. By working together, we are creating an initial atlas of how neuroanatomy correlates with cognition expressed in behaviour.

Drawing on these results we will then recreate the cognition of long extinct species, by making brain models based on fossils. This will make it possible to pinpoint cognitive changes in geological time, which can be correlated with major events in the history of Earth. More information on our team can be found here: https://www.deeptimecognition.lu.se/

The University of Edinburgh component of the team specializes in palaeontology and phylogenetics, and contributes data including CT scans of fossils and reconstructions of the brains of extinct species, and large phylogenetic trees and datasets for testing trends in evolution across genealogy and time. The Edinburgh team is led by Professor Stephen Brusatte (co-PI on the research grant).

The postdoctoral fellow will be a key member of the team. They will gather and synthesize data on the anatomy, size, and shape of the brains (via CT brain endocasts) for tetrapods across time (350+ million years of evolution), working closely with Brusatte and PhD students and external co-PI Lawrence Witmer (Ohio University) who have been gathering data on tetrapod subgroups (extinct dinosaurs, squamates, and amphibians).

They will use Bayesian statistics to test for trends in brain size change over time and phylogeny, test for correlations between brain size and neuron counts in extant species, and make the most robust predictions for neuron counts in extinct species, including dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus rex, contributing to an exciting current debate in the fields of cognitive zoology and palaeontology.

People have always been at the heart of our work. We value colleagues with drive, determination, and a passion for what they do. We are a place where everyone is welcome and offer a range of policies and benefits designed to support you.

Discover more about working at the University of Edinburgh on our Jobs website.

• Professional development and subject matter expertise
• Opportunities to develop new skills and broaden your experience
• Leading-edge research
• Opportunities for publication

As a valued member of our team, you can expect:

• A competitive salary.
• An exciting, positive, creative, challenging and rewarding place to work.
• To be part of a diverse and vibrant international community.
• Comprehensive Staff Benefits, including generous annual leave entitlement, a defined benefits pension…