CROCUS | PhD opportunity on Mechanisms and Origins of Vertebrate Collective Movement

General Info

Lead Supervisor: Andrew King, Biosciences, Swansea University

Email: a.j.king@swansea.ac.uk

Co-supervisors: Natalie Cooper, Natural History Museum; William Allen, Biosciences, Swansea University; Ines Fürtbauer, Biosciences, Swansea University; Marina Papadopoulou, Max Planck Institute for Human Development

About the project

The collective movement of fish schools, bird flocks, and mammal groups is one of the great wonders of the natural world. This striking form of social behaviour, characterised by the precise coordination of many individuals in space and time, has long fascinated both scientists and the public. Although research has revealed how these collective movements can arise from local interactions among individuals, most studies have been limited to single species. This narrow focus has hindered the discovery of general principles that explain both how and why animals move together.

Two major challenges remain. The first is to determine whether the dynamics of collective behaviour share common underlying mechanisms across species. The second is to integrate explanations of function (why animals move together) with the emergent properties of collective systems. Addressing these challenges requires an interdisciplinary approach, drawing on behavioural data, mechanistic models, and evolutionary perspectives.

The MOVE PhD project will therefore pursue three objectives:

• Behaviour: Apply our new swaRmverse framework to study variation in collective movements across fish, bird, and mammal species. The student will collate and input large-scale datasets, identify collective movement ‘events’ (time periods of coordinated group movement defined by distributions of speed and polarization), and establish these events as a standardised unit of comparison. Using factor analysis, the student will then quantify similarities and differences in collective movements both within species and across taxa, providing the first broad comparative picture of how animals move together.
• Mechanism: Develop and extend agent-based models that capture the diversity of dynamics uncovered in the behavioural analyses. These models will allow the student to explore the rules of interaction underlying coordination. By comparing models for different types of collective movements, the student will directly test a fundamental and unanswered question in behavioural biology: to what extent do different forms of collective movement arise from shared interaction rules, and where do species diverge?
• Function: Investigate the evolutionary and ecological drivers of collective movement using phylogenetic comparative methods. The student will test adaptive hypotheses (e.g. reduced predation risk, energetic benefits, improved information transfer) alongside non-adaptive explanations (e.g. collective patterns as emergent by-products of individual interactions or environmental constraints). By integrating behaviour, mechanism, and function, this PhD will transform our understanding of the origins and consequences of collective movement. The findings will have wide-ranging impact, from advancing fundamental theories of social behaviour and evolution, to informing wildlife conservation strategies and inspiring new approaches in bio-inspired swarm technologies.

Training opportunities

The student will join a supervisory team with world-leading expertise spanning animal behaviour (King, Fürtbauer), evolutionary ecology (Allen, Cooper), and computational biology (Papadopoulou). The student will benefit from a growing global network of scientists providing animal collective movement data. This combination of supervisors and collaborators guarantees unique training in state-of-the-art analytical approaches and professional development within friendly, supportive, and highly productive research groups.

Student profile

This project is suitable for graduates in biological sciences or related disciplines with a keen interest in animal behaviour and evolution. UKRI funding only covers Home fees which increase annually. For this project, the difference in the Home fees and international fees will be covered and international students will not be required to meet the difference themselves.

How to Apply

We aim to let you know the outcome of your application by the end of January 2026. To help reduce unconscious bias, applications are anonymised before being assessed.

Application Deadline: Monday 12 January, 2026

We aim to let you know whether you will be invited to interview by the end of January.

If you have applied for more than one project and/or the Crocus BAME Scholarship, you will be contacted separately for each.

The lead supervisor (for projects) and the Selection Board chair (for the BAME Scholarship) will contact you to arrange a suitable time and date for an online interview. Interviews must take place by Monday 16 February 2026.

The Crocus Selection Board will meet in early March and we will let you know the outcome of the interviews as soon as possible.

If you are offered a Crocus studentship, you will be offered the opportunity to visit the lead supervisor and/or host institution to help make your decision prior to the NERC Universal Acceptance Deadline, which is Wednesday 18 March 2026.

After you have submitted your application and supporting documents via Good Grants, you will receive a confirmation email from us.

Referees are automatically contacted when your application is submitted.

Your completed application will be assessed by different panels. The time it takes to consider and process your application varies for each panel.

Contact

If you have any questions, please email crocus-dla@reading.ac.uk

Source and more details: https://blogs.reading.ac.uk/crocus-dla/cr2026_02_move/