Vacancies

ESR1: City, University of London, United Kingdom

Internal supervisors: Prof. Mark Broom, Dr. Andrea Baronchelli

Considered for all positions.

Brief project description: This project will develop and expand evolutionary game theoretical models of cooperation for multiplayer interactions. The main goal is to explore the conditions when the evolution of cooperation is favoured. Recent work has found initial structural properties which support cooperation, and we will carry out a more thorough investigation of these and other properties. We will consider a wide range of multi-player cooperative games, which have been demonstrated to have distinct properties. These models will then be applied in different fields, such as epidemiology.

Starting date: July 2021 or earlier

ESR2: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, Germany

Internal supervisors: Dr. Chaitanya S. Gokhale, Prof. Arne Traulsen

Brief project description: Evolutionary games are never played in isolation, the advent of multiple games theory therefore begs new studies to improve our understanding of how complex interaction patterns shape the eco-evolutionary dynamics of a population. Building upon the previous work on multiplayer and multiple games, we will  include evolutionary and ecological dynamics and analyse the deterministic properties and effects of instantaneous versus delayed interactions.

Starting date: August 2021

Application deadline: 15 May 2021

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ESR4: Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands

Internal supervisors: Dr. Johan Dubbeldam, Dr. Wim van Horssen

Brief project description: In this project, we will study differential equation models for self-organizing systems and use bifurcation theory to identify critical parameter regimes. Subsequently, we will build on existing minimal nonlinear models and extend the theory to include time dependence of the network topology, and apply the models to work from other work projects, in particular in modelling cancer and optimizing its treatment.

Starting date: August 2021

Application deadline: Passed

ESR5: University College Cork, Ireland

Internal supervisors: Prof. Sebastian Wieczorek, Dr. Kieran Mulchrone

Brief project description: In this project, we will identify key questions in the area of stability analysis in evolutionary games and build on the existing techniques from bifurcation theory, critical transitions theory and network science to develop new mathematical framework to study instabilities in evolutionary games. The focus will be on stability criteria for Nash and Stackelberg equilibria, and on critical transitions (tipping points) that are triggered by changing external conditions. The methods developed will be applied to identify:

• Optimal strategies in cancer treatment
• Critical factors for “failure to adapt” to changing environment (e.g. climate) in ecosystems

Starting date: August 2021

Application deadline: Passed

ESR7: Medical University Vienna, Austria

Internal supervisors: Dr. Rudolf Hanel, Dr. Peter Klimek

Brief project description: We will study systems of entities playing iterated games (e.g. tagged zero-determinant games) typically phrased as systems of differential equations. In particular we focus on social dilemma games as models of self-organised regulatory networks and on how respective dynamical properties, such as the number, type, and stability of attractors depend on topological properties of the underlying regulatory network. To study such interrelations we build on information theoretic strategies and a proven dynamical systems framework based on a statistical ensemble approach inspired by random matrix theory. Studying how features such as modularity or the prevalence of link signs (+/-) influence the resilience and dynamics of adaptive systems translates to potentials that govern the evolutionary emergence of sustainable context sensitive regulatory strategies and networks both on microscopic (genetic/chemical reaction networks) and macroscopic scales (eco-systems).

Starting date: August 2021

Application deadline: 19 March 2021

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ESR8: Maastricht University, The Netherlands

Internal supervisors: Dr. Kateřina Staňková, Dr. Rachel Cavill

Brief project description: We will develop a basic framework of Stackelberg evolutionary games for cancer treatment, based on the initial work by Staňková, Brown, Dubbeldam et al. This involves analysis of equilibria in these games (thus ESS among cancer cells as followers in this game and Stackelberg equilibria between the physician as the leader and cancer cells as followers) but also their transient dynamics and other dynamical properties. Moreover, specific instances of these games will be designed to analyse treatment in specific cancers, with patient data from ongoing trials as an input.

Starting date: August 2021

Application deadline: passed

ESR10: Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University London, United Kingdom

Internal supervisors: Dr. Benjamin Werner, Prof. Trevor Graham

Brief project description: We will study how different mechanisms of resistance (e.g. genetic mutations, phenotypic/epigenetic changes, combination of both) in cancer cells impact patient treatment prospects and how we adjust treatment to maximise its  efficacy under these different mechanisms. This will be done via varying assumptions of existing game-theoretical models but including resistance as an evolving trait.  We will connect theoretical predictions with measurable quantities such as genetic composition of tumour cells in publically available cancer data, in order to reveal and quantify the impact of genetic and non-genetic mechanisms on resistance evolution.

Starting date: July 2021 or earlier

Application deadline: passed

ESR11: University of Torino, Italy

Internal supervisors: Prof. Maria Luisa Sapino, Prof. Matteo Sereno

Brief project description: In this project we will develop a learning framework to assist decision makers, suitable for the complicated dynamics of the systems interconnected under epidemic scenarios and the highly heterogeneous systems, varying in spatial and temporal scales data. We will also improve and refine this framework, to take into account the peculiarities of complex natural and human-based systems, such sparse and noisy observations. Furthermore, we will develop efficient sampling algorithms that, with limited available simulation budget (and therefore inherently sparse model results), allow to capture the main characteristics of the dynamically evolving system of interest..

Starting date: September 2021

Instructions for applying and application deadline: to be added soon

ESR13: University of Szeged, Hungary

Internal supervisors: Dr. Gergely Röst, Dr. Tibor Krisztin

Brief project description: The ESR will develop mathematical models to understand the interplay of population level epidemiological dynamics, within-host immune dynamics, and evolutionary dynamics of the pathogen, starting from an SIRS (susceptible - infected - recovered and immune - susceptible) framework and expanding it to more sophisticated mathematical tools (e.g. nonlinear differential equations with state-dependent delays and structured population models expressed by hyperbolic partial differential equations). These models will be accompanied with agent-based model counterparts, The models will be investigated by analytical and numerical methods and explicit stochastic simulations.

Starting date: August 2021

Instructions for applying and application deadline: to be added soon

ESR14: University of South Bohemia, Czech Republic

Internal supervisors: Prof. V. Křivan, Assoc. Prof. L. Berec

Brief project description: This project focuses on integrating ecological models at behavioural, population, and evolutionary time scales. The ESR will integrate predator / parasitoid / pathogen and prey / host behaviours with their population dynamics, pollinator preferences for plants with plant-pollinator dynamics and, more generally, dynamics of interaction networks. S/he will use continuous models either in homogeneous or heterogeneous space. Alternatively, agent-based simulations that allow for heterogeneity in a range of individual characteristics (phenotype, spatial location, age, etc.) will be used. S/he will couple these models with either adaptive dynamics or real-time eco-evolutionary dynamics.

The ESR will be a part of the Centre for Mathematical Biology at Faculty of Science. The University campus is shared with the Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, which makes it an ideal place for mathematical biology  work that connects both mathematics and real biology.  University of South Bohemia runs PhD programs in several disciplines, so the ESR will have an opportunity to enroll in one of these programs.

Starting date: September 2021.

Application deadline: 31 March 2021