Hi folks! We are still alive 🥹 This year has been especially tough because we are experiencing a bit of a cohort effect in which a LOT of us are finishing our PhDs, BUT the 2026 edition of the course ✨will happen in winter✨ and is under planning.Share, follow and we will keep you updated! 💚

Surprised Raccoon in Dumpster

ALT: Surprised Raccoon in Dumpster

static.klipy.com

Job posting: Associate Professor in behavioral ecology and cultural evolution within the Department of Ecology and Evolution (DEE) at the University of Lausanne. Deadline for applications is 30.09.2026: wwwfbm.unil.ch/releve/appli... (there is a button to switch to English at the top right)

.The very talented and fun Jonathan Henshaw has two positions to offer! If you like theoretical eco-evo questions, don't hesitate. Also, Freiburg is a very pretty place PhD: uni-freiburg.de/stellenangeb... Postdoc: uni-freiburg.de/stellenangeb...

Applications are open for SFI's 2027 Complexity Postdoctoral Fellowships. SFI is looking for recent Ph.D. graduates with strong quantitative and computational skills who want to pursue independent, transdisciplinary research. Deadline: September 30, 2026 Apply: santafe.edu/sfifellowship

On the tail of the announcement of my new Behavioural Conservation group at @idiv-research.bsky.social, I can also say... I'm hiring! We're looking for a Project Assistant (60% FTE) to join our "Conserving Cultures" project. Job posting: uni-leipzig.b-ite.careers/jobposting/1...

Project Assistant (m/f/d/x)

uni-leipzig.b-ite.careers

For those of you at #ISBE2026, I will be presenting some of my work tomorrow (Friday the 24th) at 13:15, in the Auditorium Agnelli. Would love to see you there!

🚨 ESLR Workshop coming up next week! 🗓 July 23, 2026 ⏰ 4pm CET Online Using bayesflow for likelihood free inferences by @masonyoungblood.bsky.social 🔗 Join at: calendar.app.google/RKMwxPeaGveM...

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

Nostos: il ritorno (1989), Franco Piavoli.

Sample size isn't their problem. Doing dumb regressions is their problem. I don't think I convinced many of them.

🐒 Work with primates? Have you observed 3 or more individuals grooming together? Polyadic grooming is barely documented and we know little about its distribution. Please take 1–2 minutes to fill out this short survey and share: forms.gle/cLPB1mnwrjJo...

Polyadic grooming in primates

survey about observations of polyadic grooming in primate species

forms.gle

I’m beyond excited to share I’ve been awarded a Minerva Fast Track Fellowship by @maxplanck.de to start my research group “Culture and Social Behavior” at @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social! Keep your eyes peeled for a PhD position advertisement coming later this year 🐒 www.ab.mpg.de/1442914/zoe-...

Zoë Goldsborough named Minerva Fast Track Fellow

ab.mpg.de

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

This campaign needs you now

Stop Redundancies at the University of Exeter

c.org

New paper "To select or not to select: predictively consistent priors instead of model selection" with Anna Elisabeth Riha, Leevi Lindgren, @davidkohns.bsky.social, @paulbuerkner.com arxiv.org/abs/2606.22850 Model selection is not a substitute for building good models in the first place 1/

my group is looking for a HiWi (student assistant) to help transcribe narrative interviews for our project on Inuit health and well-being. Must be a student enrolled in a bachelor or master's program at a German University. Link here: www.eva.mpg.de/career/posit...

Positions available - Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

eva.mpg.de

Social insects tackle pathogens with behaviours like grooming and the removal of infected individuals. These behaviours facilitate the evolution of larger more complex societies. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... @mingpapilio.bsky.social @georgeshillcock.bsky.social @tomwscott.bsky.social

Social immunity can be a consequence and cause of social evolution | PNAS

Many social insects respond to pathogens in ways that reduce pathogen transmission within their social groups, with behaviors such as grooming or r...

pnas.org

new diamond open-access Journal of Statistical Ecology launched 🎉🎉🎉 jse.centre-mersenne.org @fredbarraquand.bsky.social @oaggimenez.bsky.social @marieaugermethe.bsky.social @vianeylb.bsky.social (apologies to any Bsky editors I missed)

We are delighted to welcome a new Max Planck Research Group to @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social! 🥳 Led by @lirsamuni.bsky.social, this group will study wild #apes to address fundamental questions about the ecological & social bases of #cooperation & #culture. @maxplanck.de www.eva.mpg.de/press/news/a...

Uncovering the roots of cooperation and culture

Liran Samuni has started a new research group at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig

eva.mpg.de

Almost synchronously with our new @cp-trendsecolevo.bsky.social paper on “Levelling: behaviours that constrain inequality in animal societies”, I'm also excited to advertise the first PhD student position in my Emmy Noether project @humboldtuni.bsky.social

It's alive! 🎉 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝘁'𝘀 𝗚𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗖𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗘𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 is out -- an introduction to causal inference in practice. The first two chapters are available for free here: theissbendixen.com/dag-book/ More below 👇

Move over, GLM-HMM—there’s a new hidden Markov model in town. In our new preprint, we introduce the DDM-HMM: a model that jointly infers latent decision states from reaction times and choices. Using 24-hour behavioral data from rats, we found that evidence accumulation changes with time of day!

bioRxivpreprint@biorxivpreprint.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Diurnal rhythms of choice: a novel state-dependent drift diffusion model uncovers time-dependent changes in rat decision making https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.25.727672v1

Two teams in behavioural ecology with regard to statistical modelling: 1: "yeah but building a model for this would force us to make assumptions" (derogatory) 2: "yeah but building a model for this would force us to make assumptions" (complimentary)

Post Peer-review pub out from my former PhD student @oddjacobson.bsky.social dissertation. Im proud of their integration of longitudinal demographic, behavioral, historical, remote sensing, climate & movement data under a causal inference framework using hierarchical social relations models & CTMM

Ecology of Animal Societies@livingingroups.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Is bigger always better? For social animals, group size is a dilemma: big groups face more internal competition, yet hold an edge over smaller neighbors. 33 years of data on 12 wild capuchin groups reveals how these forces shape behavior. Out today in *Nat Eco & Evo*: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🚨Last week to apply for a 3 year postdoc with me and @dominikdeffner.bsky.social, embedded in theadaptivemind-excellencecluster.de Focus is on developing innovative experiments and computational models to understand social & cultural learning. Deadline is March 30th 👉 hmc-lab.com/SocialLearni...

Charley Wu@thecharleywu.bsky.social · 5mo ago

🚀 Postdoc Alert! Are you passionate about social learning & cultural evolution? @dominikdeffner.bsky.social & I have a 3-year position with freedom to develop your research and work on cutting-edge multiplayer and immersive experiments. Apply by March 30! hmc-lab.com/SocialLearni... Pls share 🙏

Barbara Fischer (KLI Group Leader for Evolutionary Biology) was interviewed for an episode of a podcast by Springer Medicine Vienna with the title “Evolutionärer Pfusch? Die enge Passform bei der menschlichen Geburt” 🎧 Listen (in German): springermedizin-hoergang.podigee.io/316-evolutio...

Evolutionärer Pfusch? Die enge Passform bei der menschlichen Geburt

In dieser Podcast-Episode erklärt die Evolutionsbiologin Dr. Barbara Fischer die spannende Herausforderung der menschlichen Geburt: das Verhältnis von Kopfgröße Neugeborener zum mütterlichen Becken. O...

springermedizin-hoergang.podigee.io

Now "coming soon" status @universitypress.cambridge.org: Our long-in-the-oven book on Stochastic Actor-Oriented Models. www.cambridge.org/core/books/s...

Stochastic Actor-Oriented Models for Longitudinal Networks

Cambridge Core - Research Methods In Sociology and Criminology - Stochastic Actor-Oriented Models for Longitudinal Networks

cambridge.org

More details about the Bayesian Workflow book and case studies now available on the book web site avehtari.github.io/Bayesian-Wor... (but you still need to wait a bit for the book)

Richard McElreath 🐈‍⬛@rmcelreath.bsky.social · 4mo ago

I would have preferred to have the "draw the rest of the owl" meme on the cover, but this will do. Seems like it is on schedule, and we'll leave some typos so you know we didn't write it with AI.

New pre-print! I cover a range of open capture-recapture models (single survey/robust design, multistate/multievent, in (Cormack-)Jolly-Seber variants) in Stan, and provide efficient log likelihood functions. I also introduce a method to account for unequal survey intervals in the entry process.

MC Stan@mc-stan.org · 4mo ago

"Efficient Bayesian implementations of capture-recapture models with Stan" by @matthollanders.bsky.social discourse.mc-stan.org/t/bayesian-c...

Our institute @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social starting a new Masters program with the University of Leipzig. If you are a bachelors student graduating soon, and would like to get involved with our research during you MSc, consider applying :) www.uni-leipzig.de/en/studying/...