Behavioural
Ecology Group


Thesis opportunities at Behavioural Ecology Group



Interested in doing your BSc / MSc Thesis or internship at the Behavioural Ecology group?


We always welcome new students to join our research!

If you have a passion for studying wild animals in their natural environment, please have a look at the various research topics within our group, contact our staff directly or browse here through a selection of our thesis topics.


Your thesis can both be done in the Netherlands or abroad!

With the more relaxed new international travel policy, we specifically look for MSc students for our running larger international field projects in

- Trinidad (guppies, contact Hannah de Waele; CLOSED),

- Eswatini (Mousebirds, Bulbuls and other; contact Sjouke Kingma),

- Australia (Zebra finches; Marc Naguib),

- Brasil (Lined Seedeaters; Filipe Cunha),

- Egypt (Waterbirds; Marc Naguib),

- Spain (Black wheatears; contact Gretchen Wagner).


We are also specifically looking for BSc and MSc students for our various field projects in Wageningen:

- students interested in working on social behaviour with Magpies (contact Miriam Kuspiel).



Doing a BSc thesis

Before you can start with your BSc thesis you should make sure you have met the admission requirements, found a BSc thesis subject, filled in the BSc thesis contract with your thesis supervisor and handed in the contract at the biology office.

Find here all the information needed to successfully start and complete your thesis.


Doing a MSc thesis

Students from MSc Animal Sciences, MSc Biology and MSc Forest and Nature Conservation can do their MSc thesis with us if they meet the requirements. Students from other MSc programs can do a thesis with us if this has been pre-approved by their study advisor/examination board.


Several grant possibilities and travel fundings are available for Dutch and international students to start and conduct your thesis abroad or in the Netherlands. See the following websites for more information:

http://www.beursopener.nl/content/index.asp (unfortunately in Dutch only)

https://www.wur.nl/en/Education-Programmes/master/Study-grants.htm

https://www.wur.nl/en/Education-Programmes/Current-Students/Trvel-Funding.htm

https://www.fonaconservation.nl/en/home-en-gb-1

https://www.wur.nl/en/Education-Programmes/Study-Abroad-and-Exchange-Students.htm


For general information about our thesis topics and doing your internship with us, please contact Bonne Beerda.


Thesis topics

Prospective PhD students


We are always open to new and innovative ideas!

If you are interested in studying questions relating to ecology, evolution, cognition and animal welfare, and you wish to conduct your PhD in close alignment with the species and questions addressed by the group, please have a look at the various research topics within our group, and contact directly our staff.


At Wageningen University & Research, we distinguish three types of PhD scholarships:


- Sandwich-Fellow PhD candidates are embedded in a local institute in their home country where they perform their research. They spend part of their time at WUR (generally the first 6-8 months, the final 6-8 months and intermittent visits). They have fellowships that are not funded by WUR. They are required to pay a tuition fee.


- Sandwich PhD candidates that are funded by WUR have a special labour agreement with WUR for the time that they are in the Netherlands. They do not pay a tuition fee.


- Guest PhD candidates have a fellowship and are based at WUR for a period of four years. The candidate can be affiliated to, or employed by, a local institute that pays the fellowship. Guest PhD candidates are required to pay a tuition fee.


For more information, click here.



To be competitive for a full-time four-year contract financed by the Graduate School of Wageningen University and Research, the candidate would need to be enrolled at the Research Master Cluster : Proposal Writing class. Please find more information here.


For general information about doing a PhD within our group, contact Bonne Beerda.


Thesis topics



Thesis Behavioural Ecology




You are currently doing your BSc or MSc thesis within the Behavioural Ecology group?


Stay connected !

Students at WUR can enroll in the Thesis Behavioural Ecology course. There you can find the links to the weekly Journal Clubs and Thesis & Waffle meetings and all documents and forms needed to successfully complete your thesis/internship with us at BHE.

All students are highly encouraged to join the Journal Clubs and Thesis & Waffles meetings.

By enrolling in the course, you will also automatically subscribe to the BHE student mail list. You can double-check your enrolment on the Brightspace “Thesis Behavioural Ecology” / communication /classlist.


Thesis information

Make sure to carefully read the BHE Thesis and internship Guide to ensure you are aware of the general setup of a thesis. You can also find the guide on Brigtspace / Content.

Your report will be formatted as a scientific article in the style of a journal like Animal Behaviour, Behavioral Ecology, or similar. Thus, check here the guidelines for writing your thesis that are directly adapted from the author guidelines of the journal Animal Behaviour.



Brightspace page
Guidelines MSc