Short Description of the Thesis/Topic:
This behavioural study aims to test dogs in a belief-revision paradigm in which the dogs and their caregiver are going to play a hide-and-seek game. Dogs will have to infer - with the help of different cues - that their caregiver has gone to hide behind one of two possible hiding locations (visual barriers, left or right relative to the dog). We aim to investigate whether dogs can not only form an initial belief about the caregiver’s hiding location, but also revise such beliefs as necessary when they are confronted with weak or strong counterevidence. 

Required Skills and Knowledge:
Students need to show interest in (and ideally have experience with) dogs, have strong interpersonal skills (to recruit and interact with dogs’ caregivers), be able to spend their time in the lab flexibly and to independently plan and execute tests. 

Additional Information:
Tests will be conducted at the Clever Dog Lab, located at the Campus of the Vetmeduni.

Duration of the thesis:
01.05.2026 - 31.10.2026

Language of the Thesis:
Englisch

Name of the Institute/Clinic/Unit:
Messerli Forschungsinstitut

Contact Person for the Thesis/Topic:
Zsofia Viranyi (Zsofia.Viranyi@Vetmeduni.ac.at)

Feedback from students requested by:
30.04.2026

Kurzbeschreibung der Abschlussarbeit/des Themas: 
Eine passende Vitaminversorgung spielt eine wichtige Rolle bei der Gesundheit, Fruchtbarkeit und Leistung der Milchkühe. Oft kommt diese leider zu kurz mit negativen Konsequenzen, insebesondere bei Hochleistungsmilchkühen. In diesem Projekt soll im Rahmen eines praxisnahen Versuches der Einfluss eines gezieltes Zusatztes an fettlöslicher un wasserlöslicher Vitamine auf die Gesundheit und Leistung untersucht werden.

Anforderungen/erforderliche Kenntnisse: 
Ein überdurchnittlich-abgeschlossenes Studium der Veterinärmedizin, vorzugsweise mit Vertiefung in Widerderkäuermedizin und Interesse an einer Forschungsarbeit zum Thema Ernärhgung und Gesudnheit der Kühe. Fähigkeit der Verfassung von Publikationen in Englischer Sprache. Gute Deutschkentnisse sind von Vorteil.

Zustätzliche Bemerkungen:
Auch Studierende am Ende des Studiums können sich bewerben. Die Dissertationsstelle wird bis zu 30 h/Woche nach dem KV bezahlt werden.

Voraussichtliche Dauer der Abschlussarbeit:
01.05.2024 bis 30.04.2027

Sprache, in der die Abschlussarbeit verfasst werden soll:
Englisch

Organisationseinheit: 
Zentrum für Tierernährung und Tierschutzwissenschaften

Ansprechpartner:in/Betreuer:in für die Abschlussarbeit:

• Prof. Dr. Qendrim Zebeli
• E-Mail: qendrim.zebeli@Vetmeduni.ac.at

Rückmeldung von Interessent:innen erbeten bis: 
Ende April 2024

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