The Hobson Lab at the University of Cincinnati is recruiting 1-3 field assistants to collect data and run social experiments with captive groups of Monk Parakeets in large outdoor flight pens.
Dates
The field season is 5 months. Fieldwork will start in the beginning of January 2023 and end by early June 2023. Field assistants should be available for the whole field season (in some rare cases, we may be able to make exceptions).
Duties of field assistants
Duties will involve catching and handling captive parakeets, long days of social observation and data collection on social interactions, running social experiments, and processing data. While this is a captive population, the flight pen is outdoors, so field assistants will need to be able to deal with weather, the possibility of bugs/snakes, and long days outdoors. The field assistants will work under the guidance and supervision of Hobson Lab members. Field assistants will be considered “independent contractors” and will not have any association with the University of Cincinnati.
Qualifications
I am searching for reliable, hard-working field assistants that are capable of working both independently and in teams. The basic qualifications are an interest in social interactions, keen observational skills, and the patience and resourcefulness to thrive in field conditions. Field assistants should be able to sit still for long periods of time, quietly and attentively observing behavior, be able to reliably record high quality data, and to work well as part of the team. Our birds are color-marked so field assistants must be able to differentiate between red, green, blue, etc. Animal handling experience (especially handling birds, and any mist-netting/banding experience) is desired, but people without these skills can be trained. All field assistants must complete an online CITI training course prior to starting work and provide documentation of course completion. Due to university regulations covering these hires, applicants need to be US citizens.
People interested in research questions about social structure, information, recognition, cognition, and memory are particularly encouraged to apply, as are people who may be interested in the possibility of joining the Hobson Lab. Field assistants may be able to develop side projects that can be completed along the main project aims and function as a post-bac researcher (see this recent paper in Animal Behavior and Cognition, first-authored by our 2021 parakeet crew member and Hobson Lab post-bac Cesar Estien!).
For more insight into the kind of work we do with the parakeets, visit this link.
Location
Gainesville, Florida
Compensation
- Shared housing for crew members & university van for transportation
- Monthly stipend = $500-1000 per month (salary based on past experience and could increase pending external funding decisions)
- Some travel support (cost to travel to the field site) may be possible
Application instructions
People interested in the field assistant positions should enter their information into this form: https://forms.gle/7AGEaFmudEt3BkqBA
Applicants should be prepared to answer questions about their interest in the project, their relevant previous experiences, upload a current CV in pdf form, and enter the names of 2-3 references who will be contacted for finalists.
** Highly qualified candidates will be contacted on a rolling basis as soon as the position is advertised **
