PhD Position: Movement Ecology

This PhD project in the Department of Ecology (Radboud Institute for Biological and Environmental Sciences, RIBES) quantifies how changing freshwater availability shapes the year-round movements of migratory waterbirds. Using the greater white-fronted goose (Anser albifrons) as a model, it builds on GPS tracks of more than 200 individuals collected since 2013 and integrates them with remotely sensed environmental data to ask how geese adjust movement to snow cover and water availability in Arctic summer ranges, which water bodies they use during autumn migration, and how winter temperatures affect freshwater roosts. The candidate develops statistical models of the ecological processes behind these movements. Applications are addressed to Andrea Kölzsch.

The application deadline is 13 December 2026.

Recent MSc in biology, ecology, environmental sciences, applied data science or a related field; experience with ecological data collection, statistics and large ecological datasets; programming in R; English at C1 level.