Current Openings

We do not have any open positions advertised right now. We will soon be advertising a funded PhD position, so check in here later to follow up. If you are interested in working within our lab, reach out to talk about possible fellowship options.

Prospective students

I have mentored students working on a wide range of projects related to cetacean biosonar, acoustic communication, and effects of noise, and I am always happy to consider new students for internships or for independent research projects. Read through my ongoing research projects or browse further to see examples of what previous students have worked on. If you want to get in touch and discuss options, please email me a cover letter with your background and research interests, and attach an updated CV. For currently enrolled students, make sure CV includes information on your major and current academic year/semester, and attach a transcript.

MSc Research Projects:  I am happy to host and co-supervise Master's students interested in undertaking a research thesis that overlap with some of the projects we work on within the lab. For students outside of Denmark, funding (for example through an Erasmus Fellowship or Fulbright Scholarship) must be in place, and we need to start the process at an early stage to get work permits and other details in place, so please contact me at least 4-6 months before you expect to start.

Graduate students: I am happy to collaborate with or supervise PhD students with shared interests. If you are interested in studying for a PhD within my lab, funding for the full period of study must be in place in advance, so this will typically happen through funding proposals. Reach out to discuss opportunities, and keep an eye on this page and my lab twitter for advertised positions.

Postdocs: I am happy to mentor postdocs that are interested in working with me. There are various Postdoc fellowships that you can apply for to work with me on your own research projects including Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral fellowships, and Carlsberg Foundation Reintegration Fellowships, among others. Please get in touch to let me know you are interested, and to help identify funding sources to support your research.

For early career research funding, check out this excellent resource for funding opportunities: 
https://research.jhu.edu/rdt/funding-opportunities/early-career/
Current Students and Team

Jeanne Shearer, Postdoc

Jeanne received her PhD from Duke University. Jeanne works on the Cetacean Caller-ID project to develop better ways of identifying calls from cetaceans tagged with acoustic tags. Jeanne also examines foraging adaptations across a range of toothed whales.

Jure Železnik​, Research Assistant

Jure investigates signature whistle structure of bottlenose dolphins to understand how much signature whistles vary and how to best design deep-learning methods for discriminating individual signature whistles.

Matthew Hyer, Research Assistant

Matt majored in physics and computer science at Middlebury College and is currently developing new deep-learning algorithms for real-time detection of critically endangered right whales using acoustic buoys as part of the Wildlife and Offshore Wind project.

Milou Hegeman, MSc Student

Milou is investigating effects of noise on pilot whales, including especially their capacity for acoustic compensation.

Student collaborators

Picture
Anne Harshbarger
PhD Candidate at Duke University, USA
Topic: Social structure and decision-making in pilot whales

Previous students:

PhD students:
Pernille Meyer Sørensen, Bristol University, UK (2023) - Social Complexity and Communication in Bottlenose Dolphins
Jeanne Shearer, Duke University, USA (2023) - The Influence of Environment on the Foraging Strategies of Cetaceans

Supervised M. Sc. student projects
2023: Jure Železnik, Université Jean Monnet Saint-Etienne, FR - Metabolic costs of whistling in bottlenose dolphins
2019: Michael B. Pedersen, Aarhus University, DK - Metabolic costs of whistling in bottlenose dolphins
2017: Onno Keller, University of Amsterdam, NL - Biosonar adjustments during prey capture in Risso's dolphins
2017: Ida Marie Kragh, Aarhus University, DK - Lombard response in free-ranging bottlenose dolphins

Supervised B. Sc. student projects
2021: Sophie Ruth Ferguson, University of Miami, USA - Diurnal changes in acoustic activity on a coral reef ​(paper)
2021: Allison Noble, Northeastern University, USA - Unsupervised clustering of coral reef sound motifs
2021: Matthew Hyer, Middlebury College, USA - Deep learning-based detection of bottlenose dolphin whistles 
2018: Michael B. Pedersen, Aarhus University, DK - Source levels of pilot whale social calls
2018: Rebecca J. Nielsen, Aarhus University, DK - Effects of tagging on acoustic behavior of pilot whales
2017: Ivana Maria Suradja, HKUST, Hong Kong - Social coordination in pilot whales

Mentoring (extensive involvement but no formal responsibility)
2023: Marco Casoli (PhD Student), University of St. Andrews
2023: Leigh Hickmott (PhD Student), University of St. Andrews
2018: Morgan J. Martin (PhD Student), U. Pretoria, South Africa
2018: Pernille M. Soerensen (MSc Student), Aarhus University, DK
2017: Taylor Machette (BSc student intern), Princeton University, DK
2016: Clair Evers (MSc Student), St. Andrews University, UK (4 month research project)
2016: Alicia Cardona Barreña (MSc Student), St. Andrews University, UK (4 month research project)
2016: Toluwani Dawodu (BSc Student), Princeton, US
2016: Michael Ladegaard (PhD student), Aarhus University, DK
2015: Mafalda de Freitas (MSc. Student), Aarhus University, DK
2015: Nicholas B. W. Macfarlane (PhD student), WHOI, US

Student resources

If you are interested in pursuing a graduate degree, please check out some of these fellowship options:
https://research.jhu.edu/rdt/funding-opportunities/early-career/

It is important that you get in touch at an early stage and that you have sufficient time to write up and get feedback on your application, so please get in touch as soon as possible.