Natural Resources Job Board

The Hobson Lab at the University of Cincinnati is recruiting 1-2 contractors to serve as field assistant "postbacs" on our Monk Parakeet sociality and cognition project. Postbacs are people who have completed their undergrad degree (baccalaureate) but who have not yet started graduate school. Postbacs will collect data and run social experiments with captive groups of parakeets in large outdoor flight pens. They will also be trained in professional development skills like computational analyses in R, how to write papers/grant proposals, how to give conference talks, etc. This position is meant to benefit our project with high-quality data collection, but also serve to launch postbacs into success in their future positions/careers.

Data is collected year-round. Minimum commitment is 3 months but there is the potential to extend up to 12 months. We are looking for at least one person to start as early as April 2025.

Duties will involve animal care, catching and handling captive parakeets, social observation and data collection on social interactions and running social experiments. While this is a captive population, the flight pens are outdoors, so postbacs will need to be able to deal with weather, the possibility of bugs/snakes, and long days outdoors. The postbac will work under the guidance and supervision of Hobson Lab members. Postbacs will be considered “independent contractors” and will not have any association with the University of Cincinnati.

I am searching for reliable, hard-working field assistants that are capable of working both independently and in teams. The basic qualifications are an interest in social interactions, keen observational skills, and the patience and resourcefulness to thrive in field conditions. Field assistants should be able to sit still for long periods of time, quietly and attentively observing behavior, be able to reliably record high quality data, and to work well as part of the team. Our birds are color-marked so field assistants must be able to differentiate between red, green, blue, etc. Animal handling experience (especially handling birds, and any mist-netting/banding experience) is great, but people without these skills will be trained. All field assistants must complete an online CITI training course prior to starting work and provide documentation of course completion. Due to regulations covering these hires, applicants need to be US citizens.

People interested in research questions about social structure, information, recognition, cognition, and memory are particularly encouraged to apply, as are people who may be interested in the possibility of joining the Hobson Lab in the future. Postbacs may be able to join planned papers as co-authors and/or develop side projects that can be completed along the main project aims and function as a post-bac researcher (see this paper in Animal Behavior and Cognition, first-authored by our 2021 parakeet crew member and Hobson Lab postbac Cesar Estien!).

Texas

Shared on-site housing for crew members (cost covered by the project)

Monthly stipend = $1000 per month to start, with raises for longer contracts

Up to $500 travel reimbursement

Applicants should be prepared to answer questions about their interest in the project, their relevant previous experiences, upload a current CV in pdf form, and enter the names of 2-3 references who will be contacted for finalists.