Fixed term for up to 37 months

The closing date for applications is midnight on Sunday 01 December 2024.

Interviews are expected to take place on week commencing Monday 06 January 2025.

There is an expectation that work will be undertaken in the UK.

For the purposes of sponsorship, this role may be eligible for sponsorship depending on candidate circumstances and is a postdoctoral role under SOC code 2119.

The University of Stirling recognises that a diverse workforce benefits and enriches the work, learning and research experiences of the entire campus and greater community. We are committed to removing barriers and welcome applications from those who would contribute to further diversification of our staff and ensure that equality, diversity and inclusion is woven into the substance of the role. We strongly encourage applications from people from diverse backgrounds including gender, identity, race, age, class, and ethnicity.

The Post

The Faculty of Arts and Humanities, in cooperation with the Faculty of Natural Sciences is offering a 37-month full-time Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Philosophy and Psychology. The Fellow will work in collaboration with Dr. Giacomo Melis (Philosophy, Principal Investigator), Dr. Eva Rafetseder (Developmental Psychology, Co-Investigator) and Dr. Zsófia Virányi (Animal Cognition, Co-Investigator) of the Messerli Research Institute (University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna) on a interdisciplinary research project entitled ‘Agency, Rationality and Epistemic Defeat’ funded by the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship scheme.

The Research Fellow will be an early-career cognitive psychologist/ethologist at postdoctoral level with a keen interest in foundational questions about the mind and rationality, and of demonstrated high research achievement and outstanding research potential. They will be experienced in independent empirical behavioural research, will have developed research interests in animal cognition or developmental psychology, and will be motivated to engage in an interdisciplinary project with philosophical guidance. The post is offered as a full-time appointment for 37 months to start on 03 February 2025 or as soon as possible thereafter.

Summary and Aims of the Project

The project is articulated in a broadly philosophical and broadly empirical part, which progress in parallel and are driven by the interactive work of the core team. The more philosophical part will develop a theory of rational belief-revision that will apply to the various agents discussed in philosophy and cognitive science, and which will focus on the notion of epistemic defeat. The more empirical part will use such theory to design and run novel comparative cognitive tests on pre-verbal children, pigs, and dogs aimed at assessing whether they may be capable of some form of reflective thinking.

Description of Duties

The main responsibility of the post-holder will be to carry out comparative and developmental studies of belief-revision. It is expected that, in the first six months of employment, the post-holder will spend a substantial amount to time in familiarizing with the work already done during the first part of the project, and to contribute to some ongoing papers. They will then be expected to carry out extensive pilot work with animals (dogs and pigs) and young children (age 2 to 5 years), using novel experimental tasks, thus contributing to the development of the data collection protocols for the project as a whole. The appointee will continue to lead comparative and developmental research throughout the duration of the project, through completing their own data collection and supervising students. The fellow will play a key role in enabling the execution of the novel experimental paradigm to be executed with the relevant species, and will work closely with the PI to ensure the harmonic integration of the philosophical framework and the experiments.

The following activities will be expected of the post-holder:

Contributing to experimental design
Taking responsibility for running experiments, data analysis and management of datasets
Spending at least a day a week reading and discussing relevant philosophical literature
Taking responsibility for participant recruitment and access to study populations, including establishing and maintaining good relationships required to facilitate this
Have regular meetings with the PI and other team members to track progress, resolve any theoretical, technical or analytical issues and discuss dissemination strategies
Taking the lead in writing papers, integrating terminologies and concepts of epistemology, philosophy of mind and psychology
Presenting findings at academic conferences and public engagement events
Attending and participating in the weekly seminars of the project held at both hosting institutions and oversee the production of minutes
Maintaining the project website
Assisting the project leaders in the organisation of the workshops, conference, public engagement events, and in editing an anthology
Contributing to the public engagement activities of the project

It merits emphasis that the funding comes with a commitment on the part of all members of the team to an extensive and demanding programme of interdisciplinary research and writing, of specialised workshops, and of public engagement activities. A willingness and enthusiasm to work within a team ethos to ensure success on all three fronts is essential.

Essential Criteria

Qualifications

A relevant doctoral qualification in psychology, behavioural biology or cognitive science, or equivalent training (e.g. relevant Masters degree with considerable additional research experience)

Research

Good knowledge in behavioural analysis approaches
Evidence of being able to conduct empirical research/enquiry independently
Evidence of some training or engagement with philosophy of mind, epistemology or philosophy of cognitive science
Experience of software design for behavioural data collection
Experience of behavioural data collection with children and/or animals
Experience in drafting papers for publication
Good knowledge of methods and theory in developmental and comparative research

Skills, Attitude and Behaviour

Evidence of good administrative and project management skills
Proven ability to establish rapport and interact effectively with test participants and colleagues
Evidence of excellent oral and written communication skills
Evidence of self-motivation and the ability to work independently
Experience of quantitative research methods and data analysis
Good IT and computing skills, including familiarity with statistical and data handling packages, such as R and Python
Time management skills including ability to prioritise workload
Interest in philosophical debates on the relation between human and animal minds
Trustworthiness and reliability
Interest in foundational questions about the mind and rationality

Desirable Criteria

Experience of research on belief revision
Experience of metacognitive research with young children and animals
Background in philosophy, particularly epistemology and philosophy of mind
Experience of software to develop and/or deliver experimental stimuli (PsychoPy, Tobii Pro Lab, E-Prime)
Previous experience of working in a research team, especially an interdisciplinary one
Previous experience of conference or project administration
Record of research publications in areas relevant to the project

About Us

Faculty of Arts and Humanities

Within the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, our students have the desire to explore, to innovate and to create. One of the largest Faculties in the University, our subject areas are renowned for international and world leading research. Our work is well represented in national and international journals, at academic conferences around the world and in the media.

We offer students a broad range of subjects to study in an exciting, research led and highly interdisciplinary environment. Our teaching is regarded as innovative and the levels of student satisfaction are consistently high. A vibrant intellectual community is constantly enriched and renewed by the contribution of visiting scholars and practitioners.

The University’s Strategic Plan Addendum 2021-23 sets out our priorities to enhance the research profile by 100 per cent, consolidate the unregulated student recruitment, to increase international partnership activity, and ensure internationalisation is at the heart of everything we do.

The Faculty encompasses four multidisciplinary divisions: Communications, Media and Culture; History and Politics; Literature and Languages, and Law and Philosophy.