Insect Sociality Fieldwork Assistants required in Surrey, UK: We seek several fieldwork assistants from June until mid-end of August 2024. The project will be to investigate how helping may have evolved using a wild digger wasp population (Ammophila). The assistants will be working as part of a team including a Postdoctoral researcher at a nature reserve just outside of Guildford, Surrey, UK. Ammophila is a non-social wasp which does not sting humans, and lays each egg in a separate burrow containing a paralysed caterpillar. The female wasp will provide further food items as her larvae grow, making the species an ideal system for testing how helping may have evolved. A couple of our previous papers on this system are: (1) Field & Brace (2004). Pre-social benefits of extended parental care. Nature 428: 650-652; (2) Field et al. (2023). Brood parasites that care: alternative nesting tactics in a subsocial wasp. American Naturalist 202(5): 655-666. The fieldwork involves: observing and manipulating provisioning behaviour, handling and marking wasps, setting up video cameras, uploading video footage and data entry. In warm weather, this involves long days in the field! Because the work involves recording colour marks on individual animals, the job would not be suitable for someone who is colour-blind. See our research group website for more information about the kind of work we do (http://biosciences.exeter.ac.uk/staff/index.php?web_id=Jeremy_Field). Experience of conducting fieldwork (especially with insects) and a degree (or working towards a degree) in a Behaviour/Evolution/Ecology-related topic are desired. A driving licence valid in the UK, and flexibility around the start and end date of the assistant position is desirable. The successful applicants must have enthusiasm for fieldwork, and will obtain excellent experience of cutting-edge research. Shared accommodation in Surrey (UK) is provided, but assistants are required to pay for their own food/personal expenses. Assistants receive �125 per week to help cover personal costs. Please contact Lucy Winder l.winder2@exeter.ac.uk (cc Jeremy Field j.p.field@exeter.ac.uk) to discuss these positions further, attaching a CV. Jeremy Field Professor of Evolutionary Biology Centre for Ecology and Conservation University of Exeter Penryn Campus Cornwall TR10 9EZ UK "Field, Jeremy" (to subscribe/unsubscribe the EvolDir send mail to golding@mcmaster.ca)