Postgraduate Study and Research

We offer and support a variety of Postgraduate degrees in CRAB.

MSc in Animal Behaviour

CRAB offers a taught MSc programme with a strong emphasis on research. Half of the course involves training in research methods including experimental design, a broad overview of research approaches of behavioural ecology, advanced statistics, and evaluating and communicating research. This part of the course culminates in a residential field trip to Lundy Island where students put the skills they have learnt into practise.

All members of CRAB are involved in the programme, and we pride ourselves that on our MSc students are more involved in the research culture than is typical of taught Masters programmes. Reflecting this, the second half of the course is the research apprenticeship, in which students are embedded in the research group of a member of CRAB, working alongside PhD and postdoctoral researchers. Please see our Research and Study Systems sections to find out more about some of the research you could be involved in.

Research Apprenticeships regularly result in scientific publications. Recent ones include (MSc student in bold):

• McCully FR, Rose PE (2023) Individual personality predicts social network assemblages in a colonial bird. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-29315-3
• Hollon SH, García-Ruiz I, Veen T et al. (2023) The evolution of dynamic and flexible courtship displays that reveal individual quality. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-023-03296-9
• George AJ, Rose PE (2023) Wing condition does not negatively impact time budget, enclosure usage, or social bonds in a flock of both full-winged and flight-restrained greater flamingos https://doi.org/10.1002/zoo.21791
• Des Pallieres CG, Rose PE (2023) Two’s company, three species is a crowd? A webcam-based study of the behavioural effects of mixed-species groupings in the wild and in the zoo. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284221
• Knoch S, Whiteside MA., Madden JR., Rose PE, Fawcett TW (2022) Hot-headed peckers: thermographic changes during aggression among juvenile pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) http://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2020.0442
• Kidd P, Ford S, Rose PE (2022) Exploring the Effect of the COVID-19 Zoo Closure Period on Flamingo Behaviour and Enclosure Use at Two Institutions https://doi.org/10.3390/birds3010009
• Cenni C, Fawcett TW (2018) The coevolution of juvenile play–fighting and adult competition. https://doi.org/10.1111/eth.12732

Find out more information about the course on the course information page, and do not hesitate to get in touch with Dr Andy Higginson (course leader) or any other member of CRAB staff to find out more information.

MSc(Res) in Animal Behaviour

We also support Master’s by Research – MSc(Res) - students. Unlike an MSc, an MSc(Res) has no taught component, and consists solely of a research project. Achieving an MSc(Res) involves working closely with a member(s) of staff on a particular research topic. Please see our Research and Study Systems sections to see some of our research interests. Achieving an Master’s by Research typically takes 2 years. Please get in touch with staff to discuss potential projects or to find out if a taught or research Masters course is best for you.

PhD Studentships

We have a long history of attracting funding for PhD studentships. PhD students are crucial members of the CRAB research team and are typically highly productive and go onto careers in science. We have access to a small number of Research Council (BBSRC/NERC/ESRC/EPSRC) studentships each year that are allocated on a competitive basis. In addition, we have had

success in developing collaborative PhD studentships with external funding bodies including the GWCT, DEFRA, Dairy Co etc. We advertise these projects on FindaPhD.com, the CRAB twitter (‘X’) account, staff twitter accounts and the university web pages. Look out in these places for upcoming studentships and we encourage potential applicants to get in touch with the staff members concerned directly before applying.

Beyond these studentships we are always keen to hear from students who wish to pursue a PhD. Please be aware that we receive many such inquiries, so to make yours stand out, please consider putting together a 1-2 page summary covering: your conceptual research interests, the specific question that you would like to tackle, a suitable study system to pursue this question, and some outline methods you may use in pursuit of the question.