Short Description of the Thesis/Topic:

Myxozoans are some of the most bizarre and fascinating parasites known to science. They are highly reduced cnidarians (related to jellyfish and corals), which infect fish and other aquatic animals. They can be a serious threat to aquaculture and fisheries, including ornamental trade. The aim of the thesis is to explore myxozoan parasite diversity from fishes of Southern Mexico, an area considered a world biodiversity hotspot. The objective is to screen fish tissue using morphological and molecular methods in the lab. Our recent work showed high diversity of these parasites in Neotropical fishes (Alama-Bermejo et al. 2023 www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-38482-2) and the implications of these parasites for the ornamental fish trade and aquaculture. The thesis will continue this line of research.

Required Skills and Knowledge:

No previous knowledge is required. We will train you to use molecular methods (DNA, PCR) to screen fish tissues to detect microscopic parasites. You will also have the chance to use microscopy and morphometric data to characterize new parasites. We need from you someone that has motivation and curiosity, that is committed, organised and responsible for work.

Additional Information:

The fish samples are already available at Vetmeduni and were collected in two field expeditions done in 2024 and 2025, from ornamental and fish food species from Mexico. This is a collaborative project with the Natural History Museum (London, UK).
The dates to start and end are flexible. This thesis will require some molecular lab training, so we need some commitment to come to the lab to do the screening in the first months.

Planned duration of the thesis project:

6 months

Language of the Thesis:

English

Name of the Institute/Clinic/Unit:

Fish Health Division

Contact Person for the Thesis:

Asst. Prof. Gema Alama Bermejo PhD
gema.alama@vetmeduni.ac.at
Tel: +431250774730

Interested candidates may reply until: 

Asap, flexible starting date

Short Description of the Thesis/Topic:
Using cognitive tests and touchscreens, we aim to investigate dogs' learning and memory. The main
tasks for you include: reading scientific literature on this topic; testing dogs in behavioral tasks;
following experimental protocols and documenting progress; evaluating videos of dog behaviour
and/or analysing data collected by touchscreen.

Required Skills and Knowledge:
Background in psychology, cognitive science, biology, neuroscience, or related field
Commited, organised, and responsible for work
Availability to carry out testing in Vetmed campus

Additional Information:
The suggested start and end dates are flexible. We are happy to begin the project ASAP or slightly later, depending on your availability. We kindly ask
for a minimum commitment of 3 months, as meaningful data collection, especially in animal behaviour studies, requires training Please note that,
depending on dog performances and study design, the project may take longer.

Duration of the thesis:
30.05.2025 to 30.09.2025

Language of the Thesis:
English

Name of the Institute/Clinic/Unit:
Domestication Lab

Contact Person for the Thesis/Topic:
Contact and co-supervisor: Siqi Yang (yang.siqi@vetmeduni.ac.at)
Supervisor: Tiago Monteiro, PhD (tiago.monteiro{at}vetmeduni.ac.at)

Feedback from students requested by:
asap

Short Description of the Thesis/Topic:
This study investigates how domestic dogs use tail movements to communicate emotional states in different social contexts. Building on previous research, it explores whether subtle differences in tail kinematics vary based on the presence and identity of a human partner (owner vs. unfamiliar person) and the reward context (rewarded vs. unrewarded).

Required Skills and Knowledge:
Dog behaviour, dog handling & training, observation and data recording skills, Computer skills, ability to work independently and follow experimental protocols, English proficiency

Duration of the thesis:
End of May 2025 to End of September 2025

Language of the Thesis:
English

Name of the Institute/Clinic/Unit:
Domestication Lab – VetMedUni of Vienna

Contact Person for the Thesis/Topic:
Chiara Canori – chiara.canori@vetmeduni.ac.at
Tiago Monteiro – tiago.monteiro@vetmeduni.ac.at

Feedback from students requested by:
asap

Short Description of the Thesis/Topic:
Recent work has suggested that chimpanzees show a characteristic error when presented with problems that require reasoning about 'OR' operations. When presented with the choice between a single cup baited with food (100% option) and two cups, one of which is baited (50% option), chimpanzees will surprisingly not choose the 100% option above chance. Recent work has shown that kea parrots have a sophisticated understanding of probability (Bastos & Taylor 2021). This study will examine if kea show better performance than chimpanzees when presented with this task

Required Skills and Knowledge:
None. We will teach you how to work with our birds, and give instructions for your literature research. The work is directly supervised on site.

Additional Information:
This diploma thesis work is part of collaboration with Prof Alex Taylor, und thus contractually bound to the winter semester. There are two topics that will be investigated in the WS 2025. The work involves assisting postdoc Millie Johnston in collecting data, in cognition tasks with the kea at Haidlhof, 4 days a week. The plan is to combine the work of both topics, and to then divide it between two people. Each person will have their own topic to write up in their thesis, but this will allow the work to be structured more flexibly.

Duration of the thesis:
01.10.2025 to 28.02.2026

Language of the Thesis:
German oder English

Name of the Institute/Clinic/Unit:
Vergleichende Kognitionsforschung, Messerli Forschungsinstitut

Contact Person for the Thesis/Topic:
Raoul Schwing, PhD
raoul.schwing@vetmeduni.ac.at

Feedback from students requested by:
asap

Short Description of the Thesis/Topic:
In the study of animal cognition, we used many paradigms derived from human psychology. However, non-human animals are tested in a very different context: not receiving any instruction as to what they should do in an experiment. We know little about how humans perform in cognitive tests under the same conditions.

In our research, we developed a battery of five short videogames that simulate tasks we perform with non-human animals, on the topics of: inequity aversion, cooperation, inference, and altruism. We are testing people of different age groups on the games without giving them any instructions of what to do. We hope this will shed light on human-animal comparisons in cognitive tests, and how we can improve them.

We are looking for two master’s students from April 2025 onwards, who are interested in data collection and analysis, and writing a thesis on the data. Our test sessions involve recruiting volunteers at Dörfles Wildpark and at the University of Veterinary Medicine of Vienna and applying the videogames battery.

Required Skills and Knowledge:

• Study of cognitive science, biology, neuroscience, psychology, or related field
• Independent, committed, organised and responsible work
• Fluent English (and preferably German) skills
• Availability to test at Dörfles Wildpark (near Ernstbrunn, NÖ; g.co/kgs/t5BCfch)

Language of the Thesis:
English

Duration of the thesis:
01.05.2025 to 01.05.2026

Name of the Institute/Clinic/Unit:
Domestication Lab

Contact Person for the Thesis:
Dario Staric: dario.staric@vetmeduni.ac.at

Feedback from students requested by:
April/May 2025

Short Description of the Thesis/Topic:
Colitis is a frequent and serious problem in horses as well as humans. The pathophysiological mechanisms are supposed to involve a complex crosstalk between immune cells and epithelial cells that results in destruction of the epithelial barrier and further progression of disease. This project aims to establish a co-culture model of equine colon epithelium and immune cells to characterize the signalling pathways involved and to test new therapeutic approaches.

Required Skills and Knowledge:
High motivation, experience in cell culture work and/or molecular biology;  
BSc degree in Biology, Molecular Biology, Biotechnology, Biomedicine or a related subject 

Further Information:
We offer a highly supportive team, established methods and guidance by supervisor and colleagues.

Language of the Thesis:
German or English

Duration of the thesis:
6 months

Name of the Institute/Clinic/Unit:
Institute of Physiology, Pathophysiology and Biophysics, Department of Biomedical Sciences & Clinic for Horses, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna

Contact Person for the Thesis:
Franziska Dengler - Franziska.dengler@vetmdeuni.ac.at
Jessika Cavalleri - Jessika.cavalleri@vetmeduni.ac.at

Feedback from students requested by:
as soon as possible, flexible starting date

Please send a short CV and motivation letter.

Short Description of the Thesis/Topic:

Topics include:
    •    The role of deleterious mutations for adaptation and maintenance of variation.
    •    Long-term adaptation of local Drosophila populations.
    •    The evolution of ageing.
    •    Inference of selection signatures from time-series data.
    •    Studying the genotype-phenotype map.
    •    Stabilising selection during polygenic adaptation.
    •    Evolution of regulatory networks.

Required Skills and Knowledge:
Over the past years, Vienna has developed into one of the leading centres of population genetics. The Vienna Graduate School of Population Genetics has been founded to provide a training opportunity for PhD students to build on this excellent on-site expertise.

We invite applications from highly motivated and outstanding students with a love for evolutionary research and a background in one of the following disciplines: evolutionary genetics, functional genetics, theoretical or experimental population genetics, bioinformatics, mathematics, statistics.
 

Additional Information:
Only complete applications (application form, CV, motivation letter, university certificates, indication of the two preferred topics in a single pdf) received by 14 May 2025 will be considered. Two letters of recommendation need to be sent directly by the referees.

PhD students will receive a monthly salary based on currently € 2.464,80 before tax according to the regulations of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF).

All information about the about available topics, the training program and the application procedure can be found at www.popgen-vienna.at

Planned duration of the thesis project:
01.07.2025 to 01.09.2028

Language of the Thesis:
English

Name of the Institute/Clinic/Unit:
Inst. für Populationsgenetik

Contact Person for the Thesis:

Mag. Elisabeth Wagner-Weigerstorfer PhD
elisabeth.wagner-weigerstorfer@vetmeduni.ac.at
Coordinator, Vienna Graduate School of Population Genetics
Institut für Populationsgenetik, Veterinärmedizinische Universität Wien

T +43 1 25077 4302

Interested candidates may reply until: 
14.05.2025