Senior Research Associate (Postdoctoral Field Manager): Quantifying Hamilton’s rule in the wild

The role

An ERC-funded postdoc position is available in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Bristol (PI: Dr Patrick Kennedy, in collaboration with Professor Dustin Rubenstein, Columbia University). You will coordinate an international field team spanning three African countries (Cameroon, Kenya, and South Africa), investigating the evolution of cooperation and conflict by running field experiments with social wasps across Africa.

Lab website: tinyurl.com/SocialStrategyLab

This postdoc position is for 2 years, with the potential for a further 2 years.

What will you be doing?

A core responsibility of the Postdoctoral Field Manager will be training and liaising with local fieldworkers and students, involving regular travel across the three countries. Working alongside other postdocs, PhD students, a lab technician, and in-country field teams, you will collect field data on costs and benefits of cooperation in a powerful wild system. 

You will pursue an ambitious work package focused on quantifying the benefits and costs of cooperation in the wild along environmental gradients. Working with the cooperatively breeding wasp Belonogaster juncea, you will establish parallel field experiments across multiple field sites, running long-term field monitoring. We anticipate the Postdoctoral Field Manager being first author on several papers resulting from this work package.

You should apply if

You are an exceptional fieldworker. You must be prepared to spend multiple months each year working with wasps in diverse habitats across Africa, with high independence, strong practical and team skills, and confidence travelling for research. Applicants without demonstrable field research experience will not be considered. 

You will be an initiative-taking scientist with exceptional organisational and team skills and the ability to problem-solve during fieldwork. 

Essential: 

• Strong experience conducting overseas fieldwork
• Capacity and enthusiasm to spend at least6 months a year in the field. You must be prepared to travel extensively across Cameroon, Kenya, and South Africa 
• Ability to manage international teams and collaborate with international partners 
• High practical independence
• Ability to trouble-shoot in the field
• Confidence driving4X4 overseas 
• Excellent research record 
• A PhD in a related area 

Desirable: 

• Conservational-level French (for Cameroon) 
• Experience working in an African context 
• Behavioural ecology background 

Applicants with outstanding fieldwork experience from disciplines outside evolution, ecology, or ethology (e.g., anthropology, geography, population health, conservation biology) are welcome to apply. You will be expected to develop a strong grasp of social evolution and behavioural ecology, including inclusive fitness theory.

Additional information

For informal enquiries please contact Dr Patrick Kennedy, Lecturer (patrick.kennedy@bristol.ac.uk)

It is expected that this position will start as soon as possible from 1st March 2026

Contract type: Open ended (Fixed funding for 2 years in the first instance)

Recruitment timeline:

Shortlisting is expected to take place between the 12th-16th January 2026

Interviews will take place on Friday 30th January 2026

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The University of Bristol aims to be a place where everyone feels able to be themselves and do their best in an inclusive working environment where all colleagues can thrive and reach their full potential. We want to attract, develop, and retain individuals with different experiences, backgrounds and perspectives – particularly people of colour, LGBT+ and disabled people - because diversity of people and ideas remains integral to our excellence as a global civic institution.

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