University of Edinburgh
Postdoctoral Research Associate in Cognitive Evolution over Deep Time
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Grade UE07: £41,064 - £48,822 per annum
CSE /School of GeoSciences
Full-time: 35 hours per week
Fixed-term: from January 2027 until 31 December 2028
The Opportunity
We seek an interdisciplinary scientist to join our international team studying the evolution of brains, intelligence, and cognition over deep time. Our Deep Time Cognition team—funded by the Swedish Research Council—combines expertise in cognitive zoology, neurobiology, and palaeontology to understand how cognition and brains have evolved in concert over eons, and what has driven this evolution. By working together, we are creating an initial atlas of how neuroanatomy correlates with cognition expressed in behaviour. Drawing on these results we will then recreate the cognition of long extinct species, by making brain models based on fossils. This will make it possible to pinpoint cognitive changes in geological time, which can be correlated with major events in the history of Earth. More information on our team can be found here: https://www.deeptimecognition.lu.se/
The University of Edinburgh component of the team specializes in palaeontology and phylogenetics, and contributes data including CT scans of fossils and reconstructions of the brains of extinct species, and large phylogenetic trees and datasets for testing trends in evolution across genealogy and time. The Edinburgh team is led by Professor Stephen Brusatte (co-PI on the research grant).
The postdoctoral fellow will be a key member of the team. They will gather and synthesize data on the anatomy, size, and shape of the brains (via CT brain endocasts) for tetrapods across time (350+ million years of evolution), working closely with Brusatte and PhD students and external co-PI Lawrence Witmer (Ohio University) who have been gathering data on tetrapod subgroups (extinct dinosaurs, squamates, and amphibians). They will use Bayesian statistics to test for trends in brain size change over time and phylogeny, test for correlations between brain size and neuron counts in extant species, and make the most robust predictions for neuron counts in extinct species, including dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus rex, contributing to an exciting current debate in the fields of cognitive zoology and palaeontology.
How to Apply
Please include the following documents in your application:
- CV listing academic positions, degrees, publications, awards, public engagement, and other applicable information (please limit to five pages)
- Cover letter outlining your interest in the position, how you can contribute to the team and its goals, and a summary of your experience working with 3D CT data and phylogenetic comparative and Bayesian statistics
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Key Dates
The closing date for applications is Friday 23 October 2026. Interviews will be held the week commencing 2 November 2026.
About the University
The University of Edinburgh is a world-class organisation. We look for the best in the field across all disciplines and provide a working environment where academics can develop their careers and passion for their chosen subject area.
The University is part of a local community and a contributor to global thinking, progress, and research. In Edinburgh, you are in one of the world’s most attractive cities with active arts and social sectors, while working in a University that has made significant contributions to society, medicine, physics, and teaching for over four centuries. Our people have helped create the modern world and are working on more ground-breaking technologies and practices.
Benefits
- Professional development and subject matter expertise
- Opportunities to develop new skills and broaden your experience
- Leading-edge research
- Opportunities for publication
- Comprehensive Staff Benefits, including generous annual leave entitlement, a defined benefits pension scheme, a wide range of staff discounts, family-friendly initiatives, and flexible work options. Check out the full list on our staff benefits page and use our reward calculator to discover the value of your pay and benefits.
Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion
The University of Edinburgh holds a Silver Athena SWAN award in recognition of our commitment to advance gender equality in higher education. We are members of the Race Equality Charter, and we are also Stonewall Scotland Diversity Champions, actively promoting LGBT equality.
We welcome applications from all qualified candidates of any demographic and particularly encourage applications from a variety of academic fields: palaeontology, anatomy, neurobiology, cognitive biology.
Prior to any employment commencing with the University, you will be required to evidence your right to work in the UK. Further information is available on our right to work webpages.
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The University may be able to sponsor the employment of international workers in this role. This will depend on a number of factors specific to the successful applicant.
About the School of GeoSciences
The School of GeoSciences explores the factors and forces that shape our world. The School aims to understand the world through fundamental curiosity-driven research and to support prescient decision-making at individual to global scales. We undertake world-leading research; offer new ways of understanding natural and social drivers of change; provide inter-and trans-disciplinary solutions; and work in partnership to improve livelihoods and explore ways to manage the environment that are both sustainable and socially equitable.
With over 500 academics, researchers, and research students, we are the largest and most successful interdisciplinary grouping of geoscientists and geographers in the UK. Research activity is coordinated within three main Research Institutes – Global Change, Earth and Planetary Science, and Geography and the Lived Environment – and within smaller research groupings that reach across and beyond the School.
A distinctive feature of the School is the combination of academic strength, intellectual breadth, and societal relevance. Our interdisciplinary research and teaching builds on established core disciplines (ecology, environmental sciences, geography, geophysics, meteorology, oceanography) to provide a variety of approaches to understanding the world (including, for example, system-scale modelling, process studies, and the development of urban and social theory). The School’s research covers fundamental ‘blue-skies’ questions, as well as having application to key societal challenges including inequality and vulnerability; urban precarity; nature and cultural meaning; development and sustainability; climate and environmental change; energy, food, and water security; health and wellbeing; natural resources; and natural hazards.
The School of GeoSciences aims to recognise and value diversity in our staff and students, and to support flexible and family-friendly working.
More details about the School is available from http://www.ed.ac.uk/geosciences
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