Josefine Bohr Brask

⭐New paper!⭐ About generative network modelling - a key approach for understanding network structures. First half: We give a general introduction to generative network models Second half: We consider their use in animal behaviour research www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Job alert for theoreticians! 2yr NERC-funded postdoc to model coevolution of learning & social structure. With Bram Kuijper, @cornishjackdaws.bsky.social @andyradford.bsky.social @ljnbrent.bsky.social Based @uniexecec.bsky.social in beautiful Cornwall Deadline Dec 14. Apply: tinyurl.com/3ym39cuv

Excited to share CASE PhD opportunities supervised by me at @edinburghbiology.bsky.social & @uoe-eid.bsky.social in collaboration with @iaciac.bsky.social , @samellisq.bsky.social and the wonderful team at Woodchester Park. Please share widely and get in touch to find out more! Links to ads below.

In this paper, we revisit the effect of community structure (doi.org/10.1371/jour...) by comparing it against an appropriate null model: the completely mixed population. Community structure consistently promotes cooperation, making it a mechanism for its evolution 📝

We are offering 3 #PhD positions in our Ecology of Animal Societies Department @livingingroups.bsky.social at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior - check them out! imprs-qbee.mpg.de/66685/current

Thank you to everyone who signed our open letter, who sent individual letters, and supported us in many other ways. We feel incredibly privileged to be part of such an active and strong scientific community and we've written you a letter to express our thanks and to give an update on the outcome 🧡🦀

Why do some animals have many social partners while others invest in a few strong relationships? Our new @royalsocietypublishing.org paper suggests the answer may be: it depends on the weather ☀️🌧️ 🐑 tinyurl.com/mry3mtpf

Animals are known to prefer kin as social partners. But non-kin bonds are surprisingly common too. So, who forms them, how stable are they & what drives them? In our new @animbehsociety.bsky.social paper we tackle these overlooked questions in free-living rhesus macaques: tinyurl.com/mwsbkjve (1/5)

For people based in Copenhagen: I will give a public talk on understanding animals together with Jacob Bro-Jorgensen at Wine & Science on the 28.10. Tickets are for sale from the 12.8 at 18:00 CET

Thanks to our colleagues from around the world who signed the Open Letter against redundancies in CRAB. The letter surpassed 700 signatures in just over 1 wk. We hope execs will now see the harm they are doing to the University of Exeter's global reputation. sites.google.com/view/save-cr...

Our paper is out now! 🎉📝 We describe how we work to address barriers faced by students and early-career researchs in the animal behaviour field, through our mentorships and microgrants. We hope that this can inspire and provide practical resources for others hoping to do the same!

@crab-exeter.bsky.social are a fantastic group of researchers, and a real beacon of excellence for Exeter. What a huge and deeply sad act of self sabotage this would be. Please consider signing their open letter👇🏻

We started @abcmicrogrants.bsky.social to make a small but real change to barriers students face. Since then, we disbursed >£26,000 in microgrants & matched >120 mentees w. mentors! In our new paper, in #AnimalBehaviourJournal's SI on Biases in Animal Behaviour, we share what we did, why, and how 🐝

Our CRAB satellite meeting is returning for its third year at @css-conference.bsky.social in Binghamton in October. Two weeks left to submit abstracts for talks at the satellite meeting. More information here: sites.google.com/view/crab2026/ Or please get in touch if you have any questions.

The University of Exeter have announced a programme of academic staff cuts, including all of www.exeter.ac.uk/research/gro... Sign the open letter of support at docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... @crab-exeter.bsky.social

From flocking birds to eusocial insects, nature is the ultimate complex system! 🐝 At the CRAB satellite, we bring together #ethology, #cognition & #ecology to decode collective animal #behavior. Discover the evolutionary rules of coordination at #CCS2026 !

Does it matter whether you use focal sampling or scan sampling to collect animal behaviour data? We used simulations to find out, testing how accurate and precise each method is across a range of behaviours, study systems, and observation protocols.

Three days left to apply (extended deadline May 15)!

Come and work with me at @universityofotago.bsky.social Review of apps begins 21 May www.linkedin.com/posts/te-pun...

Feeling bamboozled by R? If so, you're not alone. Join me & @jbbrask.bsky.social in Copenhagen for an intro course that will give you the foundation I wish I'd had as a PhD student. Friendly & accessible with lots of time for your own questions & coding projects. Deadline extended to May 15. 🎉

Deadline extended until May 15!

Hi #EconSky 📣 Introducing "Applied Econ Collective" 📣 Academia is full of fees: for submissions, workshops, software...😔 @yajnagovind.bsky.social, @ckronenberg.bsky.social & I created an initiative to cover these costs Read more, apply or donate here: opencollective.com/applied-econ...

Applications now open for the UNIL Summer School on Modelling for Evolutionary Biology (31 Aug–5 Sep 2026, Lausanne)! For PhD & postdocs interested in formal approaches to evolutionary ecology (incl. social evo, life-history, species interactions). Scholarships available, Pls RP! shorturl.at/fo1GA

⏰Time running out - deadline 19th April - to apply for funded #PhD: 🪶Quantifying animal movement patterns & behavioural interactions in a changing world 👥Joint with us @bristolbiosci.bsky.social & #SimonGriffith #MacquarieUniversity #modelling #birds #mammals #Australia ℹ️ tinyurl.com/343acaev

📢 Content submissions for the 6th SORTEE Conference (13-14 Oct 2026) are now OPEN #SORTEE2026 Submit your proposal for an unconference, hackathon or workshop by June 7th via sortee.org/upcoming SORTEE members can attend for free. Join us sortee.org/join/

Less than a month left to apply for our summer course! You are welcome to contact us if you are unsure if the course is for you or have any other questions.

✨ Our grants are back! ✨ Young researcher in Complex Systems? Apply for yrCSS grants to support: 💡 conferences / schools / workshops 🤝 research visits & collaborations 🌍 extra support for low-income countries 🗓️ Deadline: 20 March 2026 👉 yrcss.cssociety.org/grants/

Just over a week left to apply for this PhD project (unfortunately UK students only). If you're interested then please get in touch!

🚨 Can individual behavior enable the sustainable use of common goods (with no central policies)? 🚨 We explore this question in our PNAS Nexus paper: “Self-organization of common good usage and an application to Internet services” doi.org/10.1093/pnas... w/ V. Mancuso, P. Castagno & M. Marsan

How do we know our research results are REAL? We replicate them! Most folks agree but lament on how hard it is to publish these replications. My dearest gentle reader, lament no more! Delighted to unveil: Replication Studies, a new section of Behavioral Ecology 1/ academic.oup.com/beheco/artic...

New (competition funded) PhD opportunity with me, @iaciac.bsky.social and @dralgernon.bsky.social www.findaphd.com/phds/project... Higher-order networks and animal communication. Suited to someone keen on network science theory/computational modeling and keen to adapt this to ecology & evolution.

🔬 London 2026 🇬🇧 Complexity72h is open for applications! Young researchers in #ComplexSystems, come to London, June 22–26, 2026 @nunetsi.bsky.social What is Complexity72h? Participants form teams and work 72 hours on original research projects, guided by expert tutors.

 More details below:

Fully funded #PhD studentships, start Sept 2026: 1. Weaponry and aggression in wild fiddler crabs, with me, Safi Darden, Martin How tinyurl.com/weaponsPhD 2. The emotional basis of behaviour, with me, Danny Williamson, Andy Higginson tinyurl.com/emotionsPhD #AnimalBehaviour @crab-exeter.bsky.social

@asab.org Spring, aimed at ECRs, is coming to Bristol! Conference grant DEADLINE for Developing Country Applicants (<£2500) or anyone needing an early decision for visas (<£750) is in ONE WEEK, 1st December. www.asab.org/conference-g... Referee statement also needed by then! 🐝🐜🦟🦂🐠🐟🐬🦎🐸🦆🐿️🦓

🌟New paper!🌟 Very happy to have been part of this fun project with @delphinedemoor.bsky.social and coauthors.

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...

1/3 www.swansea.ac.uk/postgraduate... PhD studentship! Comparative Analysis and Modelling of Collective Behaviour in Natural and Artificial Systems. **this scholarship for UK residents only, as defined by UKCISA regulations** Details below! Please RT (AI-generated image)

Don't miss the satellite on Game Theory on Complex Systems at #CCS2025, with Sergey Gavrilets and Katerina Stankova already confirmed as invited speakers! Join in Siena, Italy, and submit your abstract for a contributed talk this week to be part of it! 📬

The 'Complexity Research in Animal Behaviour' conference symposium (satellite) will be back at CCS this year! A great place for complex systems researchers and animal behaviour researchers to connect. Abstract submission is open! sites.google.com/view/crab202...

What happens when a wood ant network is disrupted? New Open Access research shows that it depends on the resource. Networks are resilient to the loss of random resources, but a targetted removal of a key resource changes network structure 1/2 royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

I am hiring PhD students and Postdocs to join me in beautiful Copenhagen. Together, we will develop data science methods to improve epidemic preparedness. Copenhagen is amazing, salary is good, we have plenty of funding, and a great community. Read more..: candidate.hr-manager.net/ApplicationI...