Dear all,
Please find attached a poster with details of a forthcoming seminar to be held in our usual BERG discussion group slot next week. I am distributing this to others in Psychology as well as our BERG distribution list, because the speaker is Claire Watson who some people may remember as a former Stirling PhD student (2007-2011). She is now based in Japan, where she has been doing postdoctoral work at the University of Kyoto. If you would like a chance to catch up with Claire (or indeed to meet her for the first time!) then please do come along.
All welcome!
Apologies for cross-postings.
Christine.
Here is a great volunteer opportuity at the Safari Park - if interested please contact Katie Macfarane with requested information ( education(a)blaidrummond.com<mailto:education@blaidrummond.com> )
"Macaque Habitat Warden
A voluntary position has arisen for a self-motivated person to join our macaque team as a macaque habitat warden.
The role is unpaid, but you will build up experience and knowledge of working with captive primates. Perfect for someone looking to further their career in an animal related discipline.
The main duties will include patrolling the macaque habitat and monitoring behaviour of the Safari Parks large troop of Barbary Macaques, supervising the public within the drive through habitat, recording any interesting behaviours and reporting back to the Macaque team.
This voluntary position will be best suited to someone who enjoys being outside (in all weather), self-motivated, confident and reliable. We would also like someone who can commit to at least a two week placement.
In return, you will get to volunteer within a team of dedicated macaque keepers and learn about captive primate husbandry. You will also be provided with a lunch voucher for the days that you are on duty.
For those interested, please email your details along with a covering statement to education(a)blaidrummond.com<mailto:education@blaidrummond.com>"
Kind Regards,
Katie Macfarlane
-Education and Inspiration Team Officer
-Work Placement Coordinator
[edulogo]
Blair Drummond Safari Park, Stirling, FK9 4UR.
Direct Line: 01786 843 105
Dear BERGers,
This Wednesday, 26th, we have PhD candidate Paxton Culpepper giving a talk entitled:
"Experimentally testing the main assortative social features of the behavioural immune system."
After Paxton's talk we will be going to the Allanwater Brewhouse to celebrate the end of semester (http://bridgeofallan.co.uk/), so please do join us?. All are welcome!
I look forward to seeing you then!
Eoin?
The Relationship between the Behavioural Immune System, Assortative Sociality and Religiosity
Throughout evolutionary history humans have evolved psychological mechanisms fashioned to solve adaptive problems of survival. Parasite-stress has been a major adaptive problem throughout the evolutionary history of all animals, including humans. Evidence suggests that humans have evolved a behavioural immune system, which includes the emotion disgust, to motivate avoidance of potential threats of infectious microorganisms and individuals who may carry them. Throughout ancestral history out-group individuals were most likely carrying pathogens to which the locals were not immunologically adapted, thus leading to in-group-out/group bias via assortative social behaviours such as philopatry, ethnocentrism, and xenophobia. It is argued that these behaviours facilitated isolation between groups, which led not only to genetic divergence, but to a divergence in beliefs, practices and values - the 'genesis' of religion and religious diversity. Correlational evidence supports this theory - I am currently experimentally testing the theory.
Message from Michaela Másílková to MSc and PhD students. Feel free to forward.
Registration is FREE
Dear students,
On behalf of student organisational team, I am pleased to invite you to participate in 4th European Student Conference on Behaviour & Cognition. The conference will be held at University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Czech Republic on 7-8 September 2017. The aim of the conference is to bring together early-career researchers (MSc and PhD students) to present and discuss their work in the fields of animal and human behaviour and cognition. The program will offer 2 keynote speakers: Dr. Alecia Carter (University of Montpellier) and Prof. Thomas Bugnyar (University of Vienna).
The call for abstracts is now open! The closing date for abstracts is 10 July 2017. Registration is free!
For more details regarding the conference, visit our website (https://escbc2017.wordpress.com), facebook (https://www.facebook.com/escbc2017) or contact us (behave.cog2017(a)gmail.com<mailto:behave.cog2017@gmail.com>).
We are looking forward to meeting you all in České Budějovice!
Sincerely,
Michaela Másílková
Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice
--
Michaela Másílková
PhD student
Department of Zoology
Faculty of Science
University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice
Czech Republic
tel: +420 602 226 692
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Dear all,
There will be no BERG meeting this week, but we are back on the 26th when PhD candidate Paxton Culpepper will discuss his ongoing research on the assortative social features of the behavioural immune system.
After next week's BERG meeting we are planning on visiting the Allanwater Brewhouse (http://bridgeofallan.co.uk/) to mark the end of another semester, so please do join us?. All are welcome!
I hope you have a good week!
Eoin?
Dear all,
As you probably know, semester is winding down now and our BERG meetings will soon be doing the same (definitely still on tonight though!). However, in case anyone wanted to put it in their calendars I thought I would let you know that we will be holding an extra meeting on Wednesday 10th May. We will have Dr Claire Watson visiting us from the University of Kyoto, where she has been doing postdoctoral work since finishing her PhD here in Stirling. Claire is planning to talk to us about various research projects - old and new - that she has been working on, mostly on the topic of social learning in nonhuman primates.
You can find Claire's website at: http://www.cicasp.pri.kyoto-u.ac.jp/people/claire-f-i-watson
We will send out reminders closer to the time of course.
Anyway, I hope that people will be able to make it for Claire's talk, and I hope to see lots of you tonight for Lesley's as well!
Christine.
Dear BERGers,
Tomorrow, we have our penultimate BERG meeting of the semester, with PhD researcher Lesley Craig giving a talk entitled:
"Impact of species interpretation on attitudes to great ape conservation and welfare".
As usual, we will be meeting from 5:30pm in the psychology common room for drinks and nibbles.
See you then!
Eoin
?Dear BERGers,
This Wednesday we have PhD student Josephine Smit presenting a talk entitled:
"Elephant behavioural responses to human-mediated risks".
We will be meeting in room 2A54 this week from 5:30 pm, and as usual, drinks and nibble will be provided. I look forward to seeing you there!
All the best,
Eoin
Dear all,
?Tomorrow we have final year student Kieran Lee talking to us about his dissertation project with the Blair Drummond chimpanzees. As well as giving a talk on his project he will be hosting a discussion on the question of animal consciousness. The title of his talk is:
"Auditory enrichment for captive chimpanzees and the question of animal consciousness."
As usual, we will be meeting in the Psychology Common Room from 5:30pm for drinks and nibbles. See you then!
All the best,
Eoin
Dear all,
This week our BERG meeting will be of particular interest to 3rd year undergraduate students who are thinking about doing a dissertation project on animal behaviour next semester. Blair Drummond's Research Coordinator, Alasdair Gillies, and others will be speaking to us about dissertation projects that will be available at the Safari Park.
As usual, we will be meeting from 5.30pm in the Psychology Common Room, for drinks and nibbles.
All the best,
Eoin