Postdoctoral Research Associate in Cognitive Evolution over Deep Time

The University of Edinburgh; City of Edinburgh; On-site; GBP 41,000 - 49,000; Full time

Job summary

The University of Edinburgh seeks an interdisciplinary scientist to join the Deep Time Cognition team, studying how brains and cognition evolved over deep time. The postdoctoral fellow will work with Professor Stephen Brusatte and others, analyzing fossil data and CT scans to understand neuroanatomy across 350+ million years of evolution.

The role uses Bayesian statistics to test brain-size trends, link neuron counts to extant species, and help model cognition in extinct species, contributing to

Responsibilities

• Gather and synthesize data on brain anatomy, size, and shape across tetrapods using CT brain endocasts.
• Apply Bayesian statistics to test brain size trends over time and phylogeny.
• Collaborate with Brusatte, PhD students, and external co-PIs to model cognition in extinct species.

Skills

Interdisciplinary science

Bayesian statistics

Cognition research

Job description

Full-time: 35 hours per week

Fixed-term: from January 2027 until 31st 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 alocal communityand a contributor toglobal thinking,progressand research. In Edinburgh, you are in one of the world’s most attractive cities with active arts and social sectors, while working in aUniversitythat has made significant contributions to society, medicine,physicsand teaching for over four centuries. Our people have helped create the modern world and are working on more ground-breaking technologies and practices.

The Opportunity:

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: 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.

£41,064 to £48,822 per annum (Grade 7)