Join Us

We welcome enquiries from prospective doctoral students and independent research fellows. Students typically join the group through competitive funding schemes such as the BBSRC Interdisciplinary Bioscience DTP or scholarships offered by the University of Oxford and the Department of Biology. Please note that students will generally need to secure their own funding, and we are happy to support strong applicants in identifying and applying for suitable opportunities.

We have no open employment opportunities in the research team at present, but we welcome enquiries from prospective postdoctoral researchers and are happy to support strong candidates in developing fellowship applications. We are particularly keen at this time to hear from researchers with skills or interests in computer vision, especially those interested in applying these tools to questions in animal behaviour and cognition.

We’re committed to building a team where people from all backgrounds are represented, and we’d really like to see more women and other underrepresented groups feel confident applying for our roles. If you’re considering it in the future and would like some support — or want to talk about any barriers that might be stopping you from applying — please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Potential Project Themes

The themes below reflect our current interests and will change over time. They are meant to give a sense of the types of projects we have available, rather than a complete list. We are happy to hear from enthusiastic prospective applicants with their own interests and encourage you to suggest project topics that excite you.

  1. Individual recognition through the eyes of fish and computer vision approaches
  2. Improved tracking, 3D reconstructions, and simulations in underwater environments
  3. Mechanisms of spatial cognition and how fish use different sensory information as navigational cues
  4. Visual attention in fish, including work on eye tracking and depth perception
  5. Underwater polarisation, including work on how fish perceive polarised light and how it can be used in computer vision

Relevant skills and Experience

The skills below give an idea of the kinds of experience that are useful in our work. You don’t need to have them all — we value curiosity, adaptability, and a willingness to learn. We also provide opportunities to learn and build new skills as part of the team.

Field work

  • Advanced swimming abilities
  • Advanced diving qualifications
  • Boating license
  • Marine radio operators certificate (depending on field site)
  • Experience making observations of animal behaviour in the field

Laboratory work

Data analysis

  • Advanced understanding of statistical analysis
  • Working knowledge of statistical software (e.g. R, Matlab)
  • Coding (e.g. Matlab, Python)

General skills

  • Writing
  • Public speaking
  • Time management
  • Organization
  • Working with others