Short Description of the Thesis/Topic:
This project will be part of an ongoing international project investigating how anthropogenic-related food sources, specifically landfills, affect the physiology, life history, behaviour and health of a carismatic migratory bird, the White stork (Ciconia ciconia). As part of this project, we are interested in conducting a systematic review on this topic on a broader scale to understand how landfill foraging affects birds and mammals around the globe. The student will be part of an international team and will assist us with literature screening, data extraction, and statistical analyses.

Required Skills and Knowledge:
Ability to read and search scientific papers on Web of Science and similar platforms would be beneficial, but it is not a requirement.

Additional Information:
The starting time of the project can be flexible under reasonable limits, but ideally we are looking for a student who can start as soon as possible.

Duration of the thesis:
01.11.2026 to 31.01.2027

Language of the Thesis:
Our working language is English

Name of the Institute/Clinic/Unit:

Forschungsinstitut für Wildtierkunde und Ökologie,  Veterinärmedizinischen Universität 

Contact Person for the Thesis/Topic:

Dr. Valeria Marasco, valeria.marasco@vetmeduni.ac.at
Anustup Bandyopadhyay, anustup.bandyopadhyay@vetmeduni.ac.at

Feedback from students requested by:
As soon as possible

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