Positions available

The Department of Human Behavior, Ecology, and culture at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (Leipzig, Germany) is currently seeking Qualified applicants (m/f/d) for a PhD position in field-based human ecology and behavior.
Who are we looking for?
The PhD student will conduct fieldwork among Indigenous Nicaraguan horticulturalists at a field site that is maintained by Dr. Jeremy Koster. We are offering a PhD position to continue longitudinal research on time allocation and adaptive behavioral strategies. This project provides the opportunity to examine age-related behavioral changes in concert with variation in household demographics and material wealth, social networks and kinship, physical strength, and ecological knowledge, among other variables. As a complement to the long-term field research, the project will advance methods for the longitudinal analysis of behavioral data with multilevel statistical models, building on training that is provided at the Institute. 
We seek a candidate with research interests in human behavior and aptitude for quantitative research. Candidates with aspirations of continuing research after the PhD will be prioritized.

Essential criteria include

• Excellent academic performance and strong motivation to pursue a PhD
• Fluent in written and spoken English (which is the working language of the Institute)
• Functional Spanish language skills
• Willingness, and ideally previous experience, to conduct fieldwork-based research
• Willingness to collaborate effectively and have strong teamwork skills

Desired skills

• Experience with living and working in remote, rural locations
• Familiarity with R computing software
• Experience with database management
• Experience with statistical analysis

What do we offer?

• Highly integrative projects that require a willingness to embrace multiple disciplines and close collaborations with other researchers with different backgrounds.
• State-of-the-art equipment.
• An excellent research environment.
• A structured training program.
• German language courses are offered (German language skills are not required)
• Successful candidates will obtain a 3-year Ph.D. position corresponding to TVöD Bund (Collective Wage Agreement for the Public Service): The doctoral funding contracts combine research in scientific freedom with social security. They allow doctoral researchers to devote themselves independently to their scientific work without any constraints.
• The agreed working time currently amounts to 39 hours per week.
• Consumables and equipment required for the project will be covered by the department.
• Selected Ph.D. students would ideally start at the beginning of September 2026 (and a Master’s degree must be completed by this date).

You want to apply?

Interested applicants should apply only via our online recruiting system (link, also see below).

For questions (no applications), please write to Dr. Jeremy Koster, Dept. of Human Behavior, Ecology, and Culture at jeremy_koster@eva.mpg.de.

Applications should include

• Cover letter (max. 2 pages), outlining your previous research experience, your specific area(s) of research interest, and a brief overview of potential research extensions or questions that interest you within the scope of the project.
• Curriculum vitae with the names and contact information of at least two referees.
• Scientific certificates (B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees)

All electronic applications should be submitted by 30^th of May, 2026.

The Max Planck Society and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology are committed to equal opportunities, diversity, and gender equality. We actively support the compatibility of work and family and have set ourselves the goal of employing more severely disabled people and groups that are underrepresented in science, especially in the given field of activity. Therefore, we explicitly encourage them to apply and welcome applications from all backgrounds.

The aim of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI EVA) in Leipzig/Germany is to investigate the evolutionary history of humankind with the help of comparative analyses of genes, morphology, cultures, cognitive abilities, languages and social systems of past and present human populations as well as those of primates closely related to human beings.

The collaboration of the different departments – representing the natural, social, and human sciences – at one institute leads to new insights into history, variety, and abilities of the human species. The institute unites scientists with various research interests who are concerned with human evolution seen also from an interdisciplinary perspective.

Great attention is paid to cooperation between the departments in the institute. The Department of Human Behavior, Ecology, and Culture (Director: Dr. Richard McElreath) focuses on the application of ethnographic field methods and the integrated study of human life history, behavior, and culture. The department also emphasizes the development of theoretical and statistical models for making sense of longitudinal and comparative data on human adaptation.