The Hobson Lab started in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Cincinnati in August, 2019.
You might be a good fit for the Hobson Lab if you:
- Are interested in sociality, cognition, network methods, or social complexity
- Have experience or interest in working with social birds (like parakeets or quail) or fish (like betta)
- Have skills in data analysis (especially networks), observational data collection, vocal recording, and/or animal experiments (or you are interested in developing these skills)
- Like tinkering with Raspberry Pi and/or Arduino systems
UC undergrads interested in gaining research experience
** We are currently recruiting volunteers to help with animal care and social experiments in the lab ** If you’d like to get research experience or help with animal care, please see this page with our current opportunities.
Non-UC undergrads interested in summer REU positions
The UC Department of Biological Sciences Sensory Behavior and Biology group supports 5-10 undergraduate students from outside institutions to come to UC for the summer to do research. This is an NSF-supported site REU program for Sensory Ecology (the study of how animals acquire and respond to information in their environments). Please get in touch if you are interested in applying (applications are due in February, more information here).
Post-bacs / field assistants
The field crew for 2023 has been filled, but we will be recruiting again in 2024. Please visit this page for more information.
Grad students
**I am not recruiting new students for 2024, but may have graduate student positions in Fall 2025** More information on the department and grad program is here. The deadline to apply is 01-Jan. Students interested in working with me are HIGHLY ENCOURAGED to contact me prior to applying to the program (more information here).
General advice on contacting potential advisors:
For the biology department here at UC, it is critical for potential grad students to contact potential advisors prior to applying. Please refer to the following advice about reaching out for making that first contact:
- Ten simple rules for choosing a PhD supervisor
- “So, you want to go to grad school? Nail the inquiry email”
- “How to Write an Email to a Potential Ph.D. Advisor/Professor”
- “How to Correspond with Potential Graduate School Advisers”
- “Some tips on writing an email of interest to potential graduate school advisors”
Postdocs
I do not currently have funding for a postdoc. I will be recruiting a computationally-focused postdoc some time in 2026. However, I’d be very interested in discussing options for anyone interested in writing a fellowship proposal to work with me.
Funding
Graduate Fellowships
- NSF GRFP – I would be interested in working with potential students on developing proposals focused around social interactions, social structures, and computational methods for better testing hypotheses about the drivers of sociality (deadline in Oct).
Postdoc Fellowships
- NSF PRFB Fellowships: Independent funding (mostly salary, with some limited research/professional development funds). I’d be interested in working with people to develop their applications for working with me (Area 1, deadline in Nov).
- Database of postdoc opportunities, started by Dr. Allison Barner
Faculty Fellowships
- Simons Foundation Pivot Fellowship: Are you a faculty member working outside animal behavior and sociality, but interested in learning about network approaches? This is an interesting fellowship aimed at bringing researchers from a different field and embedding them with a lab in a new field that might be of interest! Please get in touch if you would like to discuss options.