Royal Society Teaching Fellowships
Vacancies - MSc and PhD StudentshipsShould you wish to undertake study in the AWC on either an AWC Studentship or through some other funding mechanism you must either be a New Zealand citizen, hold New Zealand residency or have a study permit to study in New Zealand. The Allan Wilson Centre is a partnership between 5 New Zealand universities and a New Zealand Crown Research Institute. The rules for the admittance of international students may vary slightly between institutions.
PhD studentships currently available
Background reading: This project is suitable for a PhD and would be supervised by Prof. Hamish Spencer at the University of Otago.
Discrete random models in evolutionary biology The last 3 decades have seen spectacular advances in our understanding of evolutionary biology, due largely to the wealth of molecular data (genes and genomes) being generated. Stochastic models are a fundamental tool to analyse this data, and the development of better models, and better methods of analysis requires a careful interplay of mathematics, algorithm development, statistics, and communication with biologists.
Intended for a PhD student Research area: Mathematical Biology
The evolution of sex pheromone receptors and speciation in New Zealand endemic leafroller moths
Associate Professor Richard Newcomb
Biodiveristy science: biogeoinformatics The evolutionary and ecological relationships between the landscape and all its inhabitants represent a story that unfolds over both vast and short time scales. Understanding that story, its natural rhythms and its responses to perturbation, is the prime concern of molecular ecologists and evolutionary biologists the world over. A number of related fields and analysis techniques have developed in this area: historical biogeography, phylogeography, landscape genetics and niche modeling, to name a few. The foundation of this project is the development of an enabling scientific resource for a new type of biodiversity science: biogeoinformatics. The research aims to enable a transition in the focus of molecular ecology from groups of closely-related species in isolation to spatially explicit genetic samples from species assemblages, communities and ecosystems. When an individual species or closely-related group of species is of primary interest, biogeoinformatics aims to put that species in the context of its wider ecosystem and habitat. This project involves the design, development, curation and analysis of a national (NZ) repository of geo-located biodiversity data. The software developed will allow the upload, public access and visualization of phylogeographical data. The research data will consist of geo-located, time-stamped genetic and genomic samples from New Zealand fauna and flora. Natural overlays include geological, ecological and species distribution data, niche models et cetera. The main scientific outputs will be (i) a series of combined analyses of all existing NZ phylogeographic data sets to address open questions about NZ biogeography and the origins and history of NZ biota and (ii) the development of a scientific toolkit for biogeoinformatic research. The successful candidate will be a biology-oriented computer science student, or an ecologist/evolutionary biologist with strong computer programming skills. The PhD would be based in the University of Auckland under the supervision of A/Prof Alexei Drummond (University of Auckland) and Dr Thomas Buckley (Landcare). We anticipate that the successful candidate developing good links with other research groups in NZ that focus on phylogeographical questions.
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand This project would suit a candidate who has a strong background in applied mathematics and who is willing to study up on aspects of statistics, discrete mathematics, algorithms, probability and stochastic processes as required. The candidate would be using techniques for studying SNP distributions that involve numerical and analytical solutions of PDEs.
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
New Combinatorial and Algorithmic Tools for Network Reconstruction It is now 150 years since the publication of Darwin’s Origin of Species. In the intervening years, phylogenetic trees have been successfully used to represent and analyse ancestral relationships. Mathematics underlies modern tree reconstruction methods. However, mathematics faces a new challenge because, at various evolutionary scales, evolution is not described by a tree, but by a network. This project will address some unanswered questions concerning phylogenetic network reconstruction. Questions include quantifying lateral gene transfer in early evolution and axiomatising network reconstruction methods. The development of tools for answering these questions will involve combinatorics, algorithmics, and graph theory. Supervisor: Associate Professor Charles Semple
Population genetics of tetrodotoxin-producing sea slugs
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The mismatch between empirical data showing a vast amount of genetic variation in natural populations and theoretical models predicting such levels of variation has been described as the central problem in population genetics. Recently, progress has been made in resolving this paradox by considering how selectively maintained variation may build up over time. The models underlying this research, however, assume that fitnesses are relatively unconstrained, which is often unrealistic. This project will examine the consequences for these models of incorporating constrained fitnesses using simulation techniques of mathematical modeling. The work requires some mathematical background, although a degree in mathematics is not a strict requirement.
Prof. Mike Steel
How new species are formed is still a major question in evolutionary biology. Our team is interested in the molecular processes that have contributed to the production of new species through studying a recently evolved complex of endemic New Zealand leafroller moths (genera Ctenopseustis and Planotortrix). We are especially fortunate in that much is known of their mating system, including the sex pheromones they utilise to recognise conspecifics. Furthermore, we have access to the 
genome and large EST databases from the antennae of a closely related species of leafroller moth. The project will involve isolating and uncovering the molecular changes (sequence and/or expression) in pheromone receptor genes that are responsible for the ability to perceive the different sex pheromones produced by females of species within the two genera. The role of these genes in mating and speciation will then be assessed using RNAi and gene mapping.