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Matthew Silk

@mattjsilk.bsky.social
678 followers 779 following 17 posts

Research Fellow in the Institute of Ecology and Evolution at University of Edinburgh. Social networks, behaviour, disease, demography and some wildlife photos.

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Matthew Silk @mattjsilk.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Fantastic to see our first paper on Soay sheep social networks now published in @royalsocietypublishing.org - tinyurl.com/mry3mtpf Check out this thread from @erinsiracusa.bsky.social to find out more!
tinyurl.com
Environment-dependent benefits of sociality in Soay sheep
Abstract. Although strong evidence links social connectedness to improved fitness, there is pronounced among-individual variation in social behaviour. This
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Daniel Padfield @padpadpadpad.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
I have an MRC-funded PhD project available (gw4biomed.ac.uk/how-does-tem...) on how warming will change the problem of AMR. Join a small and friendly group (padpadpadpad.netlify.app/about) in (sometimes) sunny Cornwall. 🧪🦠 #microsky **Please share** the ad below with anyone who may be interested.
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Common Tern Project @commonternproject.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Question: do I know anyone near Nantes who would be willing to pick up a dead gull-billed tern and its logger? L49 has sadly been killed near a road. I’d be very grateful for a picture and the logger and would of course reimburse postage.
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Matthew Silk @mattjsilk.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Excited to be @isbe2026.bsky.social in Turin. For any #SocialNetworks researchers - planning an informal social tonight. Meeting at registration area after the poster session at 7pm. Please spread the word! #ISBE2026
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Jason Matthiopoulos @jasonmatth.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Just out! Spatial epidemiology of Avian flu in seabird populations. #HPAI, #Bayesian, #Conservation, #Panzootic, #Gannets, @jwejeglinski.bsky.social @heyjoode.bsky.social , @sbohvm.gla.ac.uk @rspb.bsky.social @au.dk @heriotwattuni.bsky.social besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Between‐species contagion drives HPAI transmission and mass mortality in seabirds
Modelling the unprecedented avian panzootic caused by High-Pathogenicity Avian Influenza (HPAI) across the Northeast Atlantic gannet breeding metapopulation, we estimated 28% (95% CI: 21%–34%) HPAI-r...
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Xav Harrison @xavh.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Just under 2 weeks left to apply for this NERC-funded postdoc to study AMR transmission dynamics in migratory birds.
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Matthew Silk @mattjsilk.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Our CRAB satellite meeting is returning for its third year at @css-conference.bsky.social in Binghamton in October. Two weeks left to submit abstracts for talks at the satellite meeting. More information here: sites.google.com/view/crab2026/ Or please get in touch if you have any questions.
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Lauren Brent @ljnbrent.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
The University of Exeter is not in budget deficit. Yet are proposing to cut 150 academic jobs. This include my job. Please sign and share the petition, write our Vice Chancellor, to your MP, and get the word out about the act of self harm this university is about to commit. c.org/yKcx6Zr29H
c.org
This campaign needs you now
Stop Redundancies at the University of Exeter
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Xav Harrison @xavh.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
We are now recruiting for a 3 year NERC-funded postdoc to study the transmission dynamics of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in migratory birds. Based in the Wild Microbiome Lab @uniexecec.bsky.social in beautiful Cornwall.
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Susan Johnston @susanjohnston.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
📣🧬 Postdoc Alert🧬📣 We are hiring a 2+ year NERC-funded postdoc at Edinburgh Uni investigating causes and consequences of sex differences in recombination in house sparrows in Norway. Informal enquiries welcome at Susan.Johnston@ed.ac.uk 🙂 Details here: elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...
A female and male sparrow stand on a wooden post. Photo by Peter S. Ranke.
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Barbara Tschirren @btschirren.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
We are recruiting 🌟2 postdoctoral researchers🌟 for a NERC Large Grant project on the eco-evolutionary dynamics of badger - bovine tuberculosis (bTB) interactions.
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Barbara Tschirren @btschirren.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Apply here careers.exeter.ac.uk/vacancies/84... for the evolutionary genomics and here careers.exeter.ac.uk/vacancies/82... for the senescence position. Deadline: June 30th 2026 @andyyoung.bsky.social @mattjsilk.bsky.social @jon-slate.bsky.social @davehodgson.bsky.social @badgerproject.bsky.social
careers.exeter.ac.uk
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Josefine Bohr Brask @jbbrask.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Less than a month left to apply for our summer course! You are welcome to contact us if you are unsure if the course is for you or have any other questions.
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Royal Society Publishing @royalsocietypublishing.org · 30/03/2026
New research from #BiologyLetters: How do infections impact social relationships? royalsocietypublishing.org/rsbl/article... | #Behaviour #Ecology #Evolution #Epidemiology
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Daniel Padfield @padpadpadpad.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
PLEASE SHARE. PhD Opportunity with me, Ben Raymond and Jan Engelstaedter and Andrew Letten at University of Queensland. Experimentally testing mechanisms of how temperature may change selection and spread of AMR in E. coli. Coupled with some advanced modelling and sequencing. 🧪🦠 #microsky
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Olivier Gimenez 🦦 @oaggimenez.bsky.social · 01/02/2026
📘 New book out soon ! I’m excited to share that 𝐁𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞-𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐇𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐨𝐯 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐬: 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐑 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐍𝐈𝐌𝐁𝐋𝐄 is being published by Chapman & Hall / CRC Press Hope it’s useful to students, researchers, and practitioners #StatisticalEcology #NIMBLE
Book cover for https://oliviergimenez.github.io/banana-book/
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Matthew Silk @mattjsilk.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
Just over a week left to apply for this PhD project (unfortunately UK students only). If you're interested then please get in touch!
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Matthew Silk @mattjsilk.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
New (competition funded) PhD opportunity with me, @iaciac.bsky.social and @dralgernon.bsky.social www.findaphd.com/phds/project... Higher-order networks and animal communication. Suited to someone keen on network science theory/computational modeling and keen to adapt this to ecology & evolution.
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Matthew Silk @mattjsilk.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
A new paper in @plos.org Complex Systems from my time at @nimbios.bsky.social with Nina Fefferman. We set out some ways of classifying rules for social learning and knowledge exchange in higher-order networks. doi.org/10.1371/jour...
doi.org
A typology of rules for knowledge exchange in higher-order interactions
Author summary Learning from each other is important to humans and other animals as it provides safe or quick ways to gather information about the world around you. Because of this ‘social learning’, ...
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Matthew Silk @mattjsilk.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
Really great to see this paper out. A fun chance to play with some higher-order network approaches for animal spatial data! Great to make the most of @grf.bsky.social dropping by @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social on sabbatical, and very proud of Ross on his first published paper!!
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Matthew Silk @mattjsilk.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
Male Ring Ouzel near Porlock Weir/Marsh early this afternoon was a fun surprise! Showed super well feeding out in the open from the coast path - much better than this terrible photo suggests! @somersetbirds.bsky.social #UKbirding
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Josefine Bohr Brask @jbbrask.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
⭐New paper!⭐ About generative network modelling - a key approach for understanding network structures. First half: We give a general introduction to generative network models Second half: We consider their use in animal behaviour research www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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Sean Meaden @seanmeaden.bsky.social · 27/11/2025
Two fully-funded PhD openings in my research group at the University of York. If you’re excited about viromes, phage biology, Nanopore sequencing, soils and the odd bit of alpine or agricultural field sampling, we’d love to hear from you! 🌱🦠🏔️ tiny.cc/c4pv001 tiny.cc/e4pv001
tiny.cc
A Farewell to Arms: The Trade-off Between Growth and Defence in Bacteria (York YBDTP Project) at University of York on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - A Farewell to Arms: The Trade-off Between Growth and Defence in Bacteria (York YBDTP Project) at University of York, listed on FindAPhD.com
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Dr Christopher F Clements @expecocons.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
🌍📢 Postdoc alert | 3-yr starting early 2026 Please 🔁! Understand how ecosystem stability is changing across space and through time using niche modelling, pinpoint at-risk species/regions, and build tools that drive conservation action🌿🧭📈 👉 tinyurl.com/2mafwru3 #Ecology #Jobs #Biodiversity
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Matthew Silk @mattjsilk.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
Another new animal social network paper just out in @asab.org Animal Behaviour: How can we make the most of generative network models in behavioural ecology research? doi.org/10.1016/j.an... A lot of fun to help @jbbrask.bsky.social and @drwhale.bsky.social put this together! doi.org/10.1016/j.an...
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Matthew Silk @mattjsilk.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
Its very exciting to see this paper out in @behavecol.bsky.social. These conversations, expertly led by @delphinedemoor.bsky.social, have really shaped how I now think about working with social network data. Check out Delphine's thread to learn more!
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arsweeny.bsky.social @arsweeny.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
Interested in how life history may shape the gut microbiome of a wild mammal? Keen on getting to work with an iconic long-term study system in Scotland? Check out this PhD opportunity with me, Josephine Pemberton and @gfalbery.bsky.social Reach out to chat more! www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
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Xav Harrison @xavh.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
Fully funded NERC GW4+ PhD Opportunity - *Understanding The Spread of Antimicrobial Resistance by Migratory Birds* Supervised by me, @stubearhop.bsky.social (Exeter) & Patricia Brekke (ZSL). Application deadline 8th January. Please get in touch for more info www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
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Julia Saltz @juliasaltz.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
My lab at Indiana University is searching for a *postdoc* and *technician* to contribute to our work studying the evolution of social behavior using fruit flies as a model system. Details below, feel free to email me with any questions! More info on our research: saltzlab.com
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Dr. Emily G Simmonds @emilygsimmonds.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
PhD advert alert! Come work with me at Edinburgh. I'm advertising a PhD on: "Predicting responses of birds to climate change", competition funded through the E5 DTP. Would suit those with an interest in predicting responses to climate change, birds, or both. e5-dtp.ed.ac.uk/project?item...
alt="Schematic of a graph of a population trajectory for blue tits that is known for half of the x-axis (time) and then forecasted with uncertainty. Above the population trajectory are some weather images (a sun and some rain) they have connections to the population size but the path is unknown. "
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Delphine De Moor @delphinedemoor.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
Social relationships are powerful predictors of fitness across social animals. But *why*? In our new @cp-trendsecolevo.bsky.social paper, we outline testable predictions for why relationship quality and quantity adaptively vary across socio-ecological contexts. tinyurl.com/55dnkeh7
The Adaptive Relationships Framework illustrating how broad socioecological pressures shape the social solutions animals use to meet these challenges, and how these lead to social strategies and emergent structures that help them gain access to those solutions.
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Greg Albery @gfalbery.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
I'm v excited to be recruiting a PhD student to work on badger behaviour and ecology! Starting date is March 2026; see the ad here, or message me for more details: www.gregalbery.me/s/March-2026...
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Joel Pick @joelpick.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
Interested in simulating the kind of data that you might commonly find in evolutionary and ecological studies? Then we have the R package for you - squidSim!! Check our new preprint: ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...
ecoevorxiv.org
squidSim: a flexible R package for structured and reproducible simulations in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
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Matthew Silk @mattjsilk.bsky.social · 01/08/2025
Torness this morning 06:07-09:21: 1 arctic skua, 29 manxies, 82 sandwich, 8 arctic, 6 common and 7 commic terns, 59 fulmar, 27 common scoter, 1 velvet scoter, barwit and 3 whimbrel. Then found this beaut of a house martin expertly photographed by @jarrodhadfield.bsky.social later on. #BirdingLothian
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Andy Radford @andyradford.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
🚨JOB alert🚨 Full-time Managing Editor role for @asab.org journal Animal Behaviour. Applicants must have animal #behaviour background; previous editorial experience would be ideal. Apply by 31st July 2025. #publishing #editor #job More details: www.asab.org/opportunities PLEASE share widely.
asab.org
Opportunities — ASAB
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michael chimento @mchimento.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
been a long time coming, there's now a preprint along with Will Hoppitt describing our new R package for creating, fitting and interpreting bayesian NBDA models (STBayes). www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1.... Documentation is here michaelchimento.github.io/STbayes/inde...
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Barbara Class, Ph.D. (she/her) @barbaraclass.bsky.social · 25/05/2025
Our paper on disentangling assortative mating and indirect genetic effects in empirical datasets has just been accepted in @jevbio.bsky.social ! It has been a long process (5 years in the making!) and I am very proud of the result 🥳 academic.oup.com/jeb/advance-...
academic.oup.com
Disentangling non-random assortment, indirect effects, and joint plasticity as causes of phenotypic (dis)similarity between social partners
Abstract. Social partners frequently resemble each other. These correlations between the phenotypes of interacting individuals (e.g. social partners, group
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Owen Jones @jonesor.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
New paper! I introduce mpmsim, an R package for simulating matrix population models (MPMs). Great for exploring life history, sampling error, and teaching population dynamics. Full docs + vignettes to get you started! doi.org/10.1111/2041...
doi.org
mpmsim: An R package for simulating matrix population models
Matrix population models (MPMs) are widely used in ecology and evolution to explore population dynamics, including assessing management impacts and extinction risk. In comparative studies, MPMs ca...
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Elizabeth Hobson @elizabethhobson.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
I am recruiting 1-2 postbacs for my parakeet sociality & cognition project! This position is for people finished with undergrad but who have not yet started grad school. Must be totally fascinated by parakeet social drama (there's a lot of it!)🪶🧪 Job ad here: ornithologyexchange.org/jobs/board/s...
Image showing the Hobson Lab logo (monk parakeets flying into a social network diagram with R code in the background), pictures of natural-colored green and gray monk parakeets, and head shots of our individually-marked birds showing their color combos and "names" (Blue-Orange-Blue has those colors on the head, cheek, and neck, and is "BOB"). Text says "Postbac position: parakeet sociality & cognition"
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Megan Thompson @meganjthompson.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
Our common garden experiment with urban and forest great tits is out early view in Evolution! doi.org/10.1093/evol... @denisreale.bsky.social @annecharmantier.bsky.social
Visual representation of common garden procedure.
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Delphine De Moor @delphinedemoor.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
So exciting to see MacaqueNet out into the world! 🤩 Learn about our global community & database centralizing standardized affiliative & agonistic data from 61 populations across 14 macaque species: doi/10.1111/1365... Explore >600 networks & request data: macaquenet.github.io/database/
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
MacaqueNet: Advancing comparative behavioural research through large‐scale collaboration
We present MacaqueNet, a global community of macaque researchers who developed the first publicly searchable, standardised database on affiliative and agonistic behaviour. This cross-species database...
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Ally Phillimore @allyphillimore.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
Fieldwork opportunity: We're looking to hire a field assistant for the www.phenoweb.org project starting 1 April. Please repost. #phenology #fieldwork #birdringing
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Tyler Bonnell @tylerbonnell.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
I'm looking to hire two MSc positions. Interested in social animals, agent-based modelling, and reinforcement learning (RL)? Take a look at these two projects! Agent-based modelling of beluga social dynamics: tinyurl.com/4umsvkdx Social network dynamics of RL agents: tinyurl.com/5jztxdd6
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Fletcher Halliday @fletcher-h.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
Please spread the word - I am looking for a postdoc to join my lab at @osubpp.bsky.social to study diversity and interactions of plants and pathogens in wild and working landscapes! More information here: agsci-labs.oregonstate.edu/diseaseecolo...
Here's a photo of my favorite grass host, Dactylis glomerata, infected with ergot and stem rust in the beautiful Swiss Alps
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Ana S. L. Rodrigues @ana-sl-rodrigues.bsky.social · 18/12/2024
The Ecology & Behaviour annual conference is organised BY and FOR young researchers. In 2025 it comes back to Montpellier @ the Center for Functional & Evolutionary Ecology. Highly recommended to PhD students & postdocs - come to share your science, make new friends & meet your future collaborators!
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Hanna Kokko @kokkonut.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
The artwork by Franziska Brenninger is pretty, and we (coauthors Viktor Kovalov and I) think the equations are pretty too! Theme of the paper: when it's hard to succeed, do you try harder or do you give up in a "resistance is futile" way? Context: parasitism. academic.oup.com/evlett/advan...
academic.oup.com
Sex-specific immunocompetence: resistance and tolerance can both be futile but not under the same circumstances
Abstract. Immunocompetence evolution can involve a “resistance is futile” scenario if parasite encounter rates are so high that high investment in resistan
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arsweeny.bsky.social @arsweeny.bsky.social · 28/11/2024
Interested in fitness consequences of the gut microbiome in the wild? Keen on being involved with an iconic long-term study system? Check out a PhD opportunity working on Soay sheep microbiomes! Info below and feel free to contact with q's. e4-dtp.ed.ac.uk/e5-dtp/super...
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Pedro Vale @pfvale.bsky.social · 11/12/2024
"What makes a super-spreader? Unravelling the genetics of host infectiousness" Funded #PhD position in my lab exploring the drivers of host heterogeneity in pathogen transmission. Get in touch if interested. Deadline 17 Jan 2025. #HostPathogen #DiseaseEcology www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
findaphd.com
EastBio: What makes a super-spreader? Unravelling the genetics of host infectiousness. at University of Edinburgh on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - EastBio: What makes a super-spreader? Unravelling the genetics of host infectiousness. at University of Edinburgh, listed on FindAPhD.com
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Neeltje Boogert @neeltjeboogert.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
Come do a PhD with Sinead English @englishse.bsky.social , Dan Padfield @padpadpadpad.bsky.social and me on Gulls! GPS- and Bluetooth-tracking! Microbiomes & AMR acquisition & transmission! Human-wildlife conflict & mitigation! should be fun :-)
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Matthew Silk @mattjsilk.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
New NERC DTP PhD opportunity on social networks and demography in Soay sheep with me, Dan Nussey, Amy Sweeny and others (Autumn 2025 start). Apply by January 6th. Project and application details: e4-dtp.ed.ac.uk/e5-dtp/super...
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