Congratulations to Martin Stoffel who won the prize for best pre-doctoral speed talk at the 22nd Marine Mammal Biennial Conference, 2015 in San Francisco. Martin’s talk was entitled: ‘What a seal’s smell can tell – investigating the chemical basis of seal olfaction’ and you can download the slides here.
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Volunteer shorebird fieldwork opportunity in Madagascar
We are currently recruiting two volunteers to aid with our plover fieldwork in south-western Madagascar. Please see the attached flier for details.
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas to everybody from the Hoffman lab! Pictured is (most of) the group together with Matthias Galipaud at the Christmas market before Emily and Martin headed off to the Marine Mammal Biennial meeting in San Francisco. We hope they have a great and productive time 🙂
Science and fun in Portugal
Joe and David have just spent an awesome week in Olhão, Portugal, where they attended the annual CACHE meeting. Awesome weather, excellent science, great food and amazing people! And on top of that, they (as well as the other CACHE members) had very positive appraisal from the EU!
Welcome Lucy!
Last month Lucy Peters joined us from the University of Glasgow. Lucy is here on a 10 month placement as part of her degree in Marine and Freshwater Biology. She has been helping out in the lab and will soon begin her own project on Antarctic fur seals. Watch this space to see some of her results!
Hello from Iceland!
Our intrepid adventurers have made it to the Snaefellnes Peninsula by bike! Next stop, Middalir. We wish them a fun trip and no strong headwinds 🙂
Postdoc opportunity: pinniped population genomics
A two-year postdoctoral researcher position is available to work in the groups of Joe Hoffman at Bielefeld University in Germany and Jochen Wolf at the Evolutionary Biology Centre in Uppsala, Sweden. The postdoc will use whole-genome resequencing data from Galapagos sea lions to explore key evolutionary processes such as the genetic basis of speciation, adaptation and fitness. Please see the attached PDF for more details including information on how to apply. The application deadline is October 5th 2015 and interviews will take place shortly afterwards. Please direct any informal inquiries to Joe Hoffman (joseph.hoffman@uni-bielefeld.de) or Jochen Wolf (jochen.wolf@ebc.uu.se). 
Project funded: ‘Population structure and gene flow in two sympatrically breeding Southern Ocean predators with contrasting demographic histories’
We are very happy to be a project partner on a new project funded by the Norwegian Research Council to Dr Andrew Lowther and Prof Kit Kovaks (Norsk Polarinstitutt). This project will explore the range-wide population structure and historical demography of two sympatrically breeding Antarctic higher predators, the Antarctic fur seal and Macaroni penguin.
PhD position available
July 2015: Natural history of inbreeding in a cooperative mammal
We are looking to recruit a PhD student for an exciting new project investigating the causes and consequences of inbreeding in the banded mongoose (Mungos mungo). This is a collaborative project between the Hoffman Lab at the University of Bielefeld, and the School of Natural Sciences at Liverpool John Moores University, UK. Please see the attached PDF for more details including information on how to apply. Application deadline is August 21st 2015 and interviews will take place shortly afterwards. Please direct any informal inquiries to Joe Hoffman (joseph.hoffman@uni-bielefeld.de) or Hazel Nichols (H.J.Nichols@ljmu.ac.uk).
Aurelio Malo visits
A few weeks ago, Aurelio Malo from Oxford University visited us in Bielefeld. Aurelio gave a talk on his fascinating study system and we all went for dinner in the evening. Thanks for coming Aurelio!
From left: Joe, Abi, Luke, Martin, Emily, Aurelio, Sylvie and Ben
The Hoffman Lab 