Five funded PhD students; -scholarship

Overview

Starting date :
January 2023

University of Zurich - Department of Anthropology. Prof.
Andrea Migliano (Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich) has been awarded an ERC consolidator grant called COLLABORO:
Adaptive history of human socio-cognitive development. This project will add to other successful past and current research projects carried out the Human Evolutionary Ecology Group at UZH.

We are now looking for five funded PhD students (4 year scholarship, at SNF rates = 48000 Swiss Francs/ year) to study the evolution of human cumulative culture, social networks and social cognitive development in hunter-gatherer groups. In principle, we favour candidates interested in joining our long-term field sites in Congo Brazzaville and the Philippines; however, we are happy to consider proposals for alternative field sites.

Travelling expenses will be covered by the project.

The secret of human evolutionary success is a unique ability to collaborate to solve complex tasks together. In WEIRD societies, key socio-cognitive skills (theory of mind, prosociality, overimitation, teaching, moral judgment among others) develop at similar ages, being often interpreted as general socio-cognitive regularities. However, cross-cultural studies revealed striking exceptions to such regularities. COLLABORO will for the first time compare the ontogeny of children aged 0-17 in traditional hunter gatherer groups, using standard socio-cognitive tests, focal follows, contact tracing and longitudinal surveys.

Blending anthropological depth with psychological breadth, to provide insights into possible general socio-cognitive adaptations and ontogenetic variation triggered by local socio-cultural factors.

Applications should be submitted to Prof Andrea Migliano ()

The desirable starting date is January 2023, however applications will be considered until all five positions are filled. Interviews will start in November 2022