PhD position open: Evolution of a blind cave fish!

PhD position open: Evolution of a blind cave fish!

Have you ever thought about what is lurking in the dark spaces of the world? Are you amazed by organism’s ability to survive in the complete darkness of caves? And did you ever wonder why so many cave animals exhibit such a peculiar phenotype?

Great! We are looking for an ambitious and motivated PhD candidate to support our team with the FWF project “Shedding light on the evolution of a blind cavefish” on Garra longipinnis, a cyprinid freshwater fish species from Northern Oman that comprises a troglomorphic, i.e. cave- adapted, population without eyes and pigmentation from an underground cave as well as a surface population. Come join our team at the Natural History Museum Vienna and help us elucidating the origin and the genetic basis of this striking phenotype.

As a PhD candidate you will be part of the Vienna Doctoral School of Evolution and Ecology (VDSEE) and associated with the Department of Evolutionary Biology (Faculty of Life Sciences, University Vienna). The project will begin in November 2024, which would be the perfect start for your PhD. Salary will be according to the FWF personnel cost rates for doctoral candidates (approx. 2 700 € brutto per month, 30h per week).

See much more information in this pdf.