Who’s Calling: Individual bird recognition from vocalisation

Interested in conservation technology and bioacoustics?

We are seeking two PhD students to join the AviaNZ team (http://www.AviaNZ.net) in New Zealand. Our research interests are in the sounds that birds make, and how they can be used to improve monitoring for conservation purposes. The right people will have skills and interest in mathematics/data science, and/or behavioural ecology.

Our current research focuses on brown kiwi and has the following aims:

1) developing machine learning and mathematical methods differentiate between individual calling kiwi and clustering of calls together;

2) Understanding how certain bird species produce, control, and recognise their calls;

3) Linking 1) and 2) above with genetic information about their heterozygosity, which can be used to improve choices for translocations to improve the genetic diversity of populations; and

4) Combining these learnings to enable statistical abundance estimation from autonomous recording units (ARUs) recordings.

The positions are supported by a stipend paying NZ$35,000 per annum (tax free) for three years, as well as covering PhD fees.

If you are interested, please send a letter of interest indicating the reasons why you would like to join our team, ideas about possible projects you have the skills for (based on the information provided above), and include a CV, together with the names and contacts of three referees who can testify to your skills, to:

Stephen Marsland, stephen.marsland@vuw.ac.nz and Isabel Castro, i.c.castro@massey.ac.nz

The project will start as soon as we find the right candidates.