The PhD project is part of a larger project entitled “Genome-wide molecular dating” between the groups of Carolin Kosiol (University of St. Andrews / Vetmeduni Vienna, biology.st-andrews.ac.uk/contact/staffProfile.aspx?sunid=ck202), Gergely Szöllösi (Etvös University Budapest, ssolo.web.elte.hu/), Asger Hobolth (Aarhus University, www.daimi.au.dk/~asger/). The recent sequencing of genomes of closely related species and of many individuals from the same species enables the study of speciation and the inference of the history of populations. Standard phylogenetic methods reduce entire populations to single points in genotypic space by modelling evolution as a process in which a single gene mutates along the branches of a phylogeny. In this project, we envisage developing new theory and software to tackle the problem of species tree estimation and molecular dating genome-wide. The PhD student will be based with Dr. Carolin Kosiol at the Centre of Biological Diversity of the University of St. Andrews/Scotland. Visits to Vienna, Budapest and Aarhus for close collaboration are planned. Starting date is October 2017 or shortly thereafter. The position will be funded for 3.5 years.
Candidates will be expected to have a strong interest in applying quantitative methods and modelling to Biology. They will have a degree in Statistics, Mathematics, Bioinformatics, Computer Science, Physics or a related field. Prior experience with either population genetics or comparative genomics is a benefit. Preferably the candidate will have experience in programming language such as C, C++, Java and a scripting language such as Python or Perl.
Please send informal inquires to Carolin Kosiol