Bridget Waller

Post-doc position with Jamie Whitehouse on his new Leverhulme grant. Join us at NTU!! @jamiewhitehouse.bsky.social

Our next primatology profile has been published 🥳 In this edition, we sat down with Dr Stefano Kaburu (Senior Lecturer in Conservation Biology @ NTU) to discuss his work on human-macaque interactions! Read the full interview here: www.psgb.org/pages/primat...

Ellie Bath, one of my all-time favourite scientists, is advertising a PhD at Durham on the evolution of aggression. This looks like a kickass project combining a bunch of approaches and skills -- and, bonus, Durham is gorgeous. www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

🚨🐵Primate Job: @plasticprimates.bsky.social have teamed up with @monkeyforest.bsky.social and we have a postdoctoral researcher position opening to explore Barbary macaque population and conservation genomics. Details are here (tinyurl.com/mr275rrm) but feel to reach out to me with any questions!

Reminder that we are offering this really cool opportunity. The deadline for expressions of interest is October 31!

📣🎓 Open #PhD Position (3.5 years) 🎓📣 Want to come work with me on culture and social bonds in apes? 🐵 Apply to join my new group in the @livingingroups.bsky.social at @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social. Full job posting: imprs-qbee.mpg.de/131133/cultu... Deadline 📅 23 October 2026 Please share widely!

A new theme issue brings together novel insights from psychology, neuroscience, biology, and philosophy about how emotional expressions arise in the brain and body, how they develop and evolve, and how they support daily functioning of human and non-human animals. Read: buff.ly/gRqkxIu

I’m thrilled to share that we have a new paper out, led by the brilliant @katiehoemann.bsky.social and Vanessa LoBue. In this paper, we analyze - for the first time ever - the facial movements that infants see in their everyday interactions with others. 1/3

Spread the word! Behaviour 2027 will be taking place in Vienna, Austria, from August 23-27.

🦍🚨 Happy to see this paper out!: "Variation in the timing of developmental milestones in Gorilla does not support the ecological risk aversion hypothesis": tinyurl.com/3y4k93zs It is my 1st collab with the Gorilla Group at MPI (tinyurl.com/4vsry4f9) and was a lot of fun to work with some 🦍 data!

⏰ Deadline approaching! Applications for Editor-in-Chief of Human Ethology are due September 30. 📢 Like & share to help spread the word!

Distinguishing between involuntary displays and flexible, intentional signals remains central to understanding whether human language evolved from… Primate Communication by Katja Liebal https://doi.org/10.21428/e2759450.54c9be0b #CognitiveScience

We are delighted to announce that Sir Stephen Fry is the new patron for the Primate Society of Great Britain! 🎉

#ECBB2026 Louise Tovey exploring the stress response of Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus) to tourism in Gibraltar with some excellent sign posting to their nose

A 2022 study in #ScienceAdvances reveals that elephants have an exceptionally high number of facial neurons—perhaps the most known to any land-dwelling mammal. Learn more on #WorldElephantDay: https://scim.ag/4wiJ89S

📢 Call for Editor-in-Chief ISHE invites applications for the position of Editor-in-Chief of Human Ethology. 📅 Deadline: 30 September 2026 📅 Start: by 1 January 2027 Applicants should submit a max. 2-page statement outlining their vision and relevant qualifications. 📩 ana.fernandez@usach.cl

🚨🐵 Paid primate work: We are seeking a new camp and research coordinator for the Born To Be Wild Project; Tazekka National Park, Morocco: Details here (sadly due to funding constraints only available for EU, and potentially UK applicants at a push): groups.google.com/a/g-groups.w...

I compiled a list of 350 #funding opportunities for #postdoctoral research #fellowships: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1J2M_tQgoqV4ivpfEClh9qs9f2KQN2O1G3Jpda2aoHfQ/edit?usp=sharing I realized I should share this again after mentioning it to some folks at the #EFP2026

If you have (or will soon) complete your PhD & would like to join a thriving cultural evolution research group in NEW ZEALAND, drop me a line. UoA offers a handful of funded research fellowships. Applications must be made by a faculty member. Deadline August. Pls share with your students

I had an amazing time attending the @ishe-society.bsky.social congress last week and presenting research from my PhD alongside so many fantastic researchers in the field, all in such a wonderful location. I'm also very pleased to have received a Poster Commendation for my poster talk!

My department has funding for 2-year MByRes studentships (full tuition fees and research allowance) on ecosystem resilience, broadly defined. Apply to do a project with me modelling social-ecological networks. #culturalevolution #socialnetworks ecologyconservation.exeter.ac.uk/masteer-coho...

As part of our ESRC-funded project on age-based imitation, we have produced a methods paper reflecting on naturalistic observations of children and adolescents in diverse contexts, detailing methods, challenges and recommendations doi.org/10.1002/icd....

About seven percent of the entire population of the world’s rarest great ape - the Tapanuli orangutan - are estimated to have been killed by landslides in a storm that was worsened by climate change, a study involving NTU has revealed. @davepetley.bsky.social www.ntu.ac.uk/about-us/new...

How do social networks become adaptive? From self-organisation and phase transitions to cultural learning, social networks are shaped by feedback between individual interactions and collective dynamics. Check my new @cp-trendsecolevo.bsky.social paper www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

New paper! Being more facially expressive has social network benefits, especially in women. May explain why highly expressive faces have evolved in humans! www.cell.com/iscience/ful... With @bridgetwaller.bsky.social @jamiewhitehouse.bsky.social Alisa Balabanova, Robin Dunbar and Jasmine Rollings

Through a series of cognitive experiments and behavioural studies with non-human primates @jamiewhitehouse.bsky.social and team will identify the role that processing facial expressions has in the evolution of mapping social networks. media.leverhulme.ac.uk/feature/jwhi...

We are currently accepting applications for two positions on this project! Research Fellow/Post doc : tinyurl.com/postdocNTU PhD Student: tinyurl.com/PhDNTU Come work with us! @bridgetwaller.bsky.social @neuroprimato.bsky.social

🐒 PhD Opportunity 🐒 I'm excited to announce that we are now welcoming applications for a 3-year fully funded PhD position at Nottingham Trent University as part of our @leverhulme.ac.uk funded project. More info: jamiewhitehouse.github.io/mappingconne... Apply here: tinyurl.com/PhDNTU

New paper alert! Facially expressive people are more popular when strangers meet in group settings, supporting the hypothesis that facial expression has evolved to form and maintain social connections. Alisa Balabanova's PhD with @eithnekavanagh.bsky.social and Tom Kupfer rdcu.be/ffBQi

Research Assistant position working on eye-tracking and parenting cognition in macaques, linked to Yuri Kawaguchi's BBSRC Fellowship. Join us at NTU! @yurikawaguchi.bsky.social vacancies.ntu.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...

Support PSGB Through Crafts and Souvenirs! Are you heading into the field this year? If so, we invite you to bring back more than just data and memories. (see 🧵)

We’re deeply saddened by the passing of Biruté Galdikas earlier this week. A pioneer of modern primatology, her lifelong work has shaped the field as we know it today. Our thoughts are with her family, friends, and all those inspired by her legacy. news.mongabay.com/2026/03/biru...

We are offering two 4-year PhD positions in our new SNF project "The Evolutionary Roots of Altercentrism"

Delighted to be part of this!! Postdoc and PhD jobs to be advertised soon - contact Jamie for informal chats if interested! @jamiewhitehouse.bsky.social

New Publication Alert 🚨 "Reliability and precision of thermal imaging measurements to study animal behaviour and welfare" 🐐 w/ Marianne Mason & @amcell.bsky.social Check out @peerj.bsky.social - peerj.com/articles/208... #AnimalBehaviour #AnimalWelfare #NoninvasivePhysiology

New paper showing that the direction and expressivity of faces impacts social attention in macaques - the context of the face matters! @jamiewhitehouse.bsky.social @kerensarees.bsky.social and Olivia O'Callaghan. @erc.europa.eu www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The Primate Society of Great Britain (PSGB) @primatesocietygb.bsky.social is advertising a vacancy to join their Conservation Subcommittee. PSGB are looking for applicants who have a background in research/protected area management/community conservation/ conservation education.

A few more days left to apply for our PhD studentship in primate cognition at NTU - join us!

Please help spread the word on this, especially to those who may be feeling cold winds towards their research. We’ve opened the call for our International Fellowships, enabling early career researchers to work for two years at a UK research institution www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/sche...

One more month to apply for this! Please forward to any potential students (UK-only)

Control over the many small muscles that create facial expressions—a key communication channel in primates—comes from the neural circuitry that produces voluntary movements, according to new Science research in macaques. https://scim.ag/3Z8tzDs

Our Science Perspective on Ianni et al - neural control of facial expressions involves voluntary pathways @jamiewhitehouse.bsky.social www.science.org/eprint/EKJTZ...

I’m thrilled to announce that I’m recruiting a funded PhD student at Nottingham Trent University to study the cognitive mechanisms underlying individual differences in parenting in rhesus macaques! Deadline: 2 February | Start date: April 2026

Fully funded PhD position with Yuri Kawaguchi at NTU (and Claire Witham at MRC) - join us! @yurikawaguchi.bsky.social

Join us @bournemouthuni.bsky.social at the School of Life and Environmental Sciences. #Lecturer #academicjobs in #Biomedical Science, #ecology (especially #Marine Biology please), and #sustainability science. vacancies.bournemouth.ac.uk/vacancies/va...

PhD opportunity: MOVE Details: blogs.reading.ac.uk/crocus-dla/c... Deadline: 12/01/26 Supervisors: @shoalgroup.bsky.social, @inesfuertbauer.bsky.social, @wlallen.bsky.social, @nhcooper123.bsky.social, @marinapapa.bsky.social Apply: blogs.reading.ac.uk/crocus-dla/p...

Be sure to check out, "Intentional communication reduces social stress by increasing the predictability of conspecifics’ behaviour," co-authored by WG grant recipient Anna I. Roberts! www.cambridge.org/core/journal...