Join the lab!
Social Wasps Lab coming soon
Coming soon in Jan 2024! I will be starting a new lab at the University of Bristol. The lab will focus on how cooperation and conflict evolve, and especially how ecological and climatic factors affect the trajectories taken by selection. Our research will involve field-based behavioural experiments in field sites in different countries in Africa, population genetics, and theoretical modelling.
The lab's main study system will be beautiful wasps in the genus Belonogaster, which stretch across much of sub-Saharan Africa. I am currently looking to recruit enthusiastic and highly-motivated Masters by Research or PhD students to start during 2024. If you are fascinated by social evolution, and are interested in using either field-based manipulations or theoretical models to explore cooperation and conflict, the lab may be a good fit for you. I am keen to be contacted by students who have identified sources of funding that they are eligible for, or self-funded students, and to support applications for competitive studentships. As funded positions become available, they will be advertised here.
About you
Projects can be tailored to suit the student’s interest in theory or fieldwork. For field-based projects, you should find appealing the prospect of conducting behavioural experiments on (stinging) insects in Africa, and solving the (sometimes surprising!) practical challenges of working in the field. For theory-based projects, you should be enthusiastic about using mathematical or computational methods. In the first instance, do get in contact to discuss potential topics and suitability.
Field assistants Romuald Tcheutchoua (now doing a PhD at UCL) and Sarielle Kapmegne in Cameroon
Contact: patrick.kennedy@bristol.ac.uk
Two PhD projects currently advertised - contact me for more information or to discuss your suitability:
**Competition-funded PhD scholarship for UK students of Black or mixed Black heritage**
The University of Bristol has introduced a brand-new PhD scholarship for UK students of Black or mixed Black heritage. The following project is advertised as part of this Scholarship:
"Power games in the wild: the social evolution of dominance"
For more information, see : https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/funded-phd-power-games-in-the-wild-the-social-evolution-of-dominance/?p162361
Feel free to email me if you would like to ask any questions or if you think you might be a good fit for this project!
**Competition-funded PhD project on climate and cooperation**
Part of the GW4+ NERC DTP PhD programme.
"Social wasps across Africa: exploring how societies evolve at a continental scale"
See the here for more information. Feel free to contact me for more information.