[Comp-neuro] PhD opportunity - Insect Intelligence @ Edinburgh

[Barbara Webb]

The Insect Robotics group led by Prof. Barbara Webb, in the School of 
Informatics at the University of Edinburgh, has two funded positions 
available for PhD candidates, to start no later than January 2021.

The topic of research will be the neural mechanisms of navigation in 
insects, building on our recent work modelling the central complex and the 
mushroom body circuits. Insects have relatively small brains but exhibit 
substantial intelligence and flexibility in their ability to navigate 
complex environments, providing an opportunity to understand problems of 
learning, generalisation, cue integration etc. at the level of single 
neurons and their connectivity. The primary project aim will be to build 
detailed computational models, working closely with anatomical and 
physiological data from our project partners, and to explore the 
behavioural consequences in simulated and robot agents. There will also be 
the opportunity to do behavioural experiments on relevant model species 
such as ants and dung beetles, to complement the modelling results.

Students will be fully supported for 3.5 years with a standard stipend, 
all fees covered, and an allowance for travel and research costs.

Interested candidates should in the first instance contact Barbara Webb 
<B.Webb at ed.ac.uk>.

Further information about the research degrees in 
Informatics at Edinburgh and the formal application process can be found 
here: https://www.ed.ac.uk/informatics/postgraduate

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