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benkawam.bsky.social
Ben Kawam
@benkawam.bsky.social
280 followers 210 following 31 posts
Primatologist lost in a Markov chain | benkawam.github.io.
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benkawam.bsky.social
Ben Kawam @benkawam.bsky.social · Nov 12
New paper!

We propose a framework to empirically study animal social relationships by modelling social network (SN) data as time-series—that is, without the need to aggregate them over time.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Each dyad (a, b) moves through four discrete states over time, represented by coloured circles. The dyad remains in a given state for a certain duration, or "holding time", before transitioning to a new state according to state-specific transition probabilities, indicated by arrows showing all possible (non-zero) transitions. Paintings by Sofia M. Pereira & Judith von Nordheim.
Reposted by Ben Kawam
mattjsilk.bsky.social
New (competition funded) PhD opportunity with me,
@iaciac.bsky.social and @dralgernon.bsky.social
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Higher-order networks and animal communication. Suited to someone keen on network science theory/computational modeling and keen to adapt this to ecology & evolution.
February 9, 2026 at 2:41 PM
Reposted by Ben Kawam
dingdingpeng.the100.ci
New preprint! So, what's a multiverse analysis good for anyway?>

With @jessicahullman.bsky.social and @statmodeling.bsky.social

juliarohrer.com/wp-content/u...
What’s a multiverse good for anyway? Julia M. Rohrer, Jessica Hullman, and Andrew Gelman Multiverse analysis has become a fairly popular approach, as indicated by the present special issue on the matter. Here, we take one step back and ask why one would conduct a multiverse analysis in the first place. We discuss various ways in which a multiverse may be employed – as a tool for reflection and critique, as a persuasive tool, as a serious inferential tool – as well as potential problems that arise depending on the specific purpose. For example, it fails as a persuasive tool when researchers disagree about which variations should be included in the analysis, and it fails as a serious inferential tool when the included analyses do not target a coherent estimand. Then, we take yet another step back and ask what the multiverse discourse has been good for and whether any broader lessons can be drawn. Ultimately, we conclude that the multiverse does remain a valuable tool; however, we urge against taking it too seriously.
February 4, 2026 at 10:24 AM
Reposted by Ben Kawam
evoldir.bsky.social
The University of Helsinki seeks a postdoctoral researcher in Statistical Ecology. Apply by Feb 28, 2026. Salary €3800-4000/month. Details: https://www.helsinki.fi/en/faculty-science/faculty/mathematics-and-statistics. #postdoc
Mathematics and statistics | Faculty of Science | University of Helsinki
The Department of Mathematics and Statistics is Finland’s largest university department for mathematical sciences. Its multifaceted research has received the highest points in numerous assessments. The Department collaborates actively with other higher education institutions and with several government research institutes both in Finland and abroad.
www.helsinki.fi
February 1, 2026 at 9:06 AM
Reposted by Ben Kawam
rmcelreath.bsky.social
This time I try to explain group-level confounding and some ways to deal with it. Lecture B04 of Statistical Rethinking 2026 - fixed effects, Mundlak machines, latent Mundlak machines, intro to social network analysis and the social relations model. Full lecture list: github.com/rmcelreath/s...
Statistical Rethinking 2026 Lecture B04 - Group-level confounding and intro to social networks
YouTube video by Richard McElreath
www.youtube.com
January 30, 2026 at 1:27 PM
Reposted by Ben Kawam
kli.ac.at
💐 Congratulations to our 2025 KLI fellow, Nina Kraus @ninakraus.bsky.social, on her new publication in the Journal of Experimental Biology on
"Environmentally dependent developmental induction as a potential driver of heart evolution"!
👏👏👏

📃 doi.org/10.1242/jeb....
Fig. 4. of Kraus 2026. Normal mammalian cardiogenesis and ambiogenic events hypothesized to be required for proper outflow tract development during placentation, along with associated developmental and phylogenetic phenotypes.
January 30, 2026 at 12:40 PM
Reposted by Ben Kawam
mpi-evolbio.bsky.social
Expressions of interest: Director at MPI EvolBio (f/m/d) — We invite expressions of interest from distinguished scientists in evolutionary biology with a bold, long-term research vision that complements our Institute. More information: www.evolbio.mpg.de/3856225/Dire...
Directors
www.evolbio.mpg.de
January 21, 2026 at 11:15 AM
Reposted by Ben Kawam
adamlinson.bsky.social
Paper out today on @royalsocietypublishing.org:
"Alerting and orienting attention in anti-predator vigilance: neurocognitive modelling and behavioural evidence"
royalsocietypublishing.org/rsif/article...
🧪🌎🪶 #corvids #OpenAccess
Simulation examples. Scenarios A–D above correspond to agent behaviour sequences in rows A–D below. The sequences indicate 12 time steps, one per box, which proceed horizontally (i.e. the leftmost box is t1, the rightmost box is t12). In the lower rows, beak direction is depicted with a triangle such that head rotations are visible (e.g. in row B, there is a head rotation each time step). The circular area connected to the triangle represents a top view of the scrub-jay head (filled circle with unfilled sectors). Circles with two unfilled sectors show the default foveal position bilaterally, and circles with four unfilled sectors show further foveation during a fixed head position. Unfilled row squares indicate that the scrub-jay has high uncertainty about whether a hawk is present due to lack of sensory evidence (no hawk shape is visible and no hawk call is audible). Filled row squares that progress from dark (orange) to light (yellow) represent the strength of the belief that a hawk is present, beginning with low uncertainty during three time steps when the hawk shape is visible and an increasing belief that the hawk is no longer present once the shape is no longer visible. Upper half: the filled circle indicates the scrub-jay’s proximal surroundings. In the top left (A), a single hawk suggests low background predation risk, which elicits a head rotation every two time steps (row A). (Dotted lines indicate possible but not actual approaches.) Three hawks are shown in B, indicating high background predation risk, which elicits a head rotation every time step (row B). Rectangular cover in C presents a skewed distribution of possible hawk approaches. This leads to a head rotation pattern that proportionately increases the time monitoring exposed areas (row C). In the upper right (D), two actual hawk approaches are shown (solid lines extended by dotted lines). The dark orange solid segment corresponds to the dark orange boxes in row D, when the hawk shape is visible.
January 21, 2026 at 9:18 AM
Reposted by Ben Kawam
rmcelreath.bsky.social
I am reading "Killer Instinct: The popular science of human nature in 20th century America" by Nadine Weidman, and I am learning a lot. I was aware that Konrad Lorenz (father of field of ethology, winner of 1973 Nobel prize) was a Nazi, but didn't know he was so enthusiastic about it.
predominantly ‘Jewish’ ­ human psy­ chol­ ogy with a new psy­ chol­ ogy that was ‘properly German.’ ”51 Lorenz joined the Nazi party in June of 1938. By 1940, he was appointed to the Kant Professorship of Psy­ chol­ ogy at the Albertus University of Königsberg in East Prus­ sia, which came along with the directorship of an Institute of Comparative Psy­ chol­ ogy. Adapting his domestication theme to the Nazi context, Lorenz wrote two articles in 1940 making explicit connections between Nazi racial hygiene and his own studies of animal be­ hav­ ior; the second of ­ these was published in the official Nazi journal for biology teachers.52 Lorenz quickly became part of the Nazi war machine. In Oc- tober 1941, just eight months ­ after assuming his Königsberg position, he was drafted into the German Army, first as a military psychologist in Poznan, a city in western Poland taken over by the Nazis ­ after their inva- sion of Poland in 1939. In Poznan, as a member of the Nazi Office of Race Policy, Lorenz administered ­ mental tests aimed at sorting “mixed Poles and Germans into German-­ like ­ people that could be rehabilitated and Poles who could not,” and who ­ were subsequently sent to concentration camps.53 When such psychological testing was discontinued, he worked as a physician and psychiatrist at the reserve hospital in Poznan.54 Along with ­ these practical activities, Lorenz continued to support Nazi ideology through intellectual ­ labors. In 1943, he published another article extol- ling the virtues of race purity, and warning of the disruptive effects of do- mestication on animals’ instincts.
January 15, 2026 at 12:25 PM
Reposted by Ben Kawam
piretavila.bsky.social
Postdoc in statistical ecology & evolution! Develop models bridging evolutionary theory with empirical data on sex differences in immunity and life history. Apply now!
#postdoc #statistics #evolution #academicjobs #ecology jobs.helsinki.fi/job/Helsinki...
Postdoctoral Researcher in Statistical Ecology and Evolution
Postdoctoral Researcher in Statistical Ecology and Evolution
jobs.helsinki.fi
January 14, 2026 at 9:08 AM
Reposted by Ben Kawam
kli.ac.at
Join our first KLI Colloquium in 2026!
Title: Embodied Rationality: Normative and Evolutionary Foundations
Speaker: Enrico Petracca
🕒 8 Jan 2026, 3:00 PM CET
🗺️ at KLI, join online via ZOOM (link & info: www.kli.ac.at/en/events/ev...)
January 8, 2026 at 8:38 AM
Reposted by Ben Kawam
antoinestier.bsky.social
Please repost: 🚨Field assistant position 🐧

We offer a 14-months field assistant position through the French Polar Institute to work on king penguin ecophysiology and behavioral ecology.

Requirements: EU citizen < 30yo having experience with harsh fieldwork & wild bird/mammal handling/sampling.
January 5, 2026 at 1:37 PM
Reposted by Ben Kawam
sightsoundmag.bsky.social
Béla Tarr, 1955-2026 🤍
January 6, 2026 at 11:52 AM
Reposted by Ben Kawam
solomonkurz.bsky.social
Another day, and another reference to these bangers. Contemporary causal inference has fundamentally changed the way I think about control variables and mediation analyses. These can show you why:

doi.org/10.1177/2515...
doi.org/10.1111/spc3...
doi.org/10.1177/2515...
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
doi.org
December 12, 2025 at 9:19 PM
Reposted by Ben Kawam
relenski.bsky.social
The 2026 Guarda Summer Course in Evolutionary Biology is now accepting applications. Amazing place, amazing course, amazing opportunity for early grad students.

tb.ethz.ch/education/gu...
Summer school:<br> Evolutionary Biology in Guarda
Information about the annual summer school Evolutionary Biology in Guarda
tb.ethz.ch
December 10, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Reposted by Ben Kawam
rmcelreath.bsky.social
I'm teaching Statistical Rethinking again starting Jan 2026. This time with live lectures, divided into Beginner and Experienced sections. Will be a lot more work for me, but I hope much better for students.

I will record lectures & all will be found at this link: github.com/rmcelreath/s...
course schedule as a table. Available at the link in the post.
December 9, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Reposted by Ben Kawam
vmywang.bsky.social
Fifty years to the day since the death of Hannah Arendt. This is (still) such a fantastic interview:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVSR...
Hannah Arendt (1964) - What Remains? (Full Interview w/ Günter Gaus)
YouTube video by Philosophy Overdose
www.youtube.com
December 4, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Reposted by Ben Kawam
jacoporazzauti.bsky.social
Our preprint is out! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Peter Skovorodnikov and I are excited to present FERAL: a new video-understanding toolkit that maps raw video directly to behavior, no pose estimation required.
It works across species, from lab to field, and even in collective systems. (🧵1/n)
FERAL: A Video-Understanding System for Direct Video-to-Behavior Mapping
Animal behavior unfolds continuously in time, yet quantitative analyses often require segmenting it into discrete, interpretable states. Although manual annotation can achieve this, it remains slow, s...
www.biorxiv.org
November 19, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Reposted by Ben Kawam
biologicaltheory.bsky.social
Biological Theory is now on Bluesky!

We have a new team of editors and a new editorial board.

We will soon be posting about all our articles.

Find out more about the journal at link.springer.com/journal/13752
December 3, 2025 at 11:51 AM
Reposted by Ben Kawam
isbe2026.bsky.social
Make sure you don’t miss our key dates for abstract submission and registration!
December 1, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Reposted by Ben Kawam
mchimento.bsky.social
Are you working on a project where you need to infer whether individuals are socially learning? pathways, correlates of, and individual variation in sensitivity to social transmission? Consider joining the hand-on STbayes workshop to learn about the latest update to the NBDA framework
cultconf.bsky.social Culture Conference @cultconf.bsky.social · Nov 28
⏰ Reminder: 10 days left to submit your abstract for Culture Conference 2026!

🧠 Workshop details are now live! Join us for a hands-on day on cutting-edge tools for analysing social networks & social transmission (registration opens soon).

Find all details here: culture-conference.com/workshop/
November 28, 2025 at 9:57 AM
Reposted by Ben Kawam
bjjbarrett.bsky.social
now out, post peer review, led by @ehowaspi.bsky.social: empirically informed ABM suggesting that in orangutans dietary"know-what" requires social learning to develop
November 24, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Reposted by Ben Kawam
kohngregory.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Inferring the causes of animal social network structure from time-series data
Behavioural ecologists aim to understand the causes of animal social structure. Connecting theoretical models of social structure with empirical observations remains, however, a for-midable challenge....
www.biorxiv.org
November 20, 2025 at 11:58 AM
Reposted by Ben Kawam
ljnbrent.bsky.social
Apply now for a NERC-funded PhD position with @andyradford.bsky.social & Patrick Kennedy at @bristolbiosci.bsky.social (with me as friendly 2nd supervisor down the road in @crab-exeter.bsky.social). Network cognition, cooperation, competition...what's not to like?
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Funded PhD NERC GW4+ DLTP - Social monitoring and manipulation of cooperative exchanges at University of Bristol on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - Funded PhD NERC GW4+ DLTP - Social monitoring and manipulation of cooperative exchanges at University of Bristol, listed on FindAPhD.com
www.findaphd.com
November 17, 2025 at 11:49 AM
Reposted by Ben Kawam
bjjbarrett.bsky.social
Postdoc position in individual-level incentives, social
learning, and payoff-biased imitation shape group-level accuracy in complex prediction and decision-making tasks in Konstanz

files.newsletter2go.com/l3slzozn/s_i...
files.newsletter2go.com
November 17, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Reposted by Ben Kawam
florianhartig.bsky.social
We are hiring: 4 PhD Positions in Ecology / Data Science and one Ecological Data Scientist. For more information, see www.uni-regensburg.de/universitaet...
We are hiring: 4 PhD Positions in Ecology / Data Science and one Ecological Data Scientist
We are looking for 4 PhD Positions and one Scientific Programmer / Ecological Data Scientist to join the AG Hartig (Theoretical Ecology)
www.uni-regensburg.de
November 13, 2025 at 4:14 PM