*Fully-funded PhD opportunity* for UK students at the University of
Sheffield: deadline 15 Sept 2025

Perceptual bias and the evolution of organism communication signals
https://www.findaphd.com/search/ProjectDetails.aspx?PJID=186190

Project overview:

The natural world is full of visually striking organism communication
signals, from the vibrant colours of fish and butterflies to the
elaborate courtship displays of birds and other animals. Over decades
biologists have made excellent progress in understanding the
communicative functions of such signals (e.g. attracting mates,
defending territories or warning predators), but explaining the
specific design of signalling traits (i.e. the arrangement of a
signal's component features) has proved frustratingly difficult.

A key hypothesis that could explain these observations is that biases
in the perceptual systems used by animals (including humans) to detect
and process sensory information have played an important role in
shaping communication signal evolution. In particular, it has been
argued that evolution should favour signal designs that can be
processed efficiently i.e. with minimal metabolic cost by the
perceptual systems of other organisms. This idea, referred to as
'processing bias', implies that animal signal evolution and perhaps
even human aesthetic preferences for certain organismal signals may
both be better understood by studying signal evolution through the
lens of information processing by signal receivers.

This PhD project will test fundamental predictions for the role of
processing biases in shaping organism visual signal evolution and
human aesthetic preferences for them using birds as a model system.
Capitalising on recent advances in computational
neuroscience and machine learning, specific objectives are to (1)
quantify common design features of avian visual communication signal
features, (2) use computational models to estimate visual processing
efficiency of avian signalling vs. non-signalling traits and (3)
investigate connections between visual processing efficiency and human
aesthetic judgements of avian visual phenotypes.

Supervisors:

Dr Chris Cooney (Sheffield), Prof Gavin Thomas (Sheffield), Dr Julien
Renoult (CNRS Montpellier). Lab website: https://www.cooneylab.co.uk/.

What we're looking for:

We welcome applications from candidates from any relevant background
(e.g. ecology, evolution, computer science, neuroscience) to tackle
this novel and exciting opportunity. Training will be provided in
specific analysis techniques and the successful applicant will acquire
advanced computational and communication skills that are highly
transferable. The student can expect to work closely with all
supervisors, as well as other project team members including a PDRA
and research technician. In addition to the objectives outlined above,
there will be ample opportunity for the student to develop their own
research questions over the course of the project.

The student will join a vibrant community of academic staff and
postgraduate students within the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
cluster within the School of Biosciences at the University of
Sheffield, where extensive PhD training and development are available.
There will also be opportunities to engage with the public at large to
disseminate the student's research, for example via exhibitions at
local (Weston Park Museum) and national (Natural History Museum,
London) museums with which the supervisory team already have strong
links.

Funding and eligibility:

Fully funded PhD position (3.5 years) via a Leverhulme Trust Research
Project Grant. Funding covers stipend (UKRI 2025/26 rate 20,780),
tuition fees (UKRI 2025/26 rate 5,006) and research support and
training grant (RTSG). Only UK students are eligible to apply.

Apply:

To apply, please submit an application via the University of
Sheffield's application portal:
https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/postgraduate/phd/apply/applying. Informal
enquiries are welcome, please contact: c.cooney@sheffield.ac.uk.

NERC Research Fellow
School of Biosciences
University of Sheffield
www.cooneylab.co.uk

Chris Cooney <c.cooney@sheffield.ac.uk>

(to subscribe/unsubscribe the EvolDir send mail to
golding@mcmaster.ca)