Back to all jobs
Visible on IKONS todayNewPopular
South HollandRemote32.3 hours/week6-12months
Investigate prehistoric landscape connectivity and human movement across Europe using agent-based modelling.
- Part of an interdisciplinary research project investigating contacts and interactions between early hominins in Late Pleistocene Europe.
- Implement a specific movement modelling framework to reconstruct the geography-driven movement architecture.
- Simulate autonomous agents making local least-cost movement decisions using a High Performance Computing (HPC) cluster.
- Identify movement corridors, bottlenecks, and barriers that emerge solely from landscape structure.
- Compare predicted movement pathways with the archaeological record to evaluate how geography shaped patterns of human dispersal.
What you do
- Adapt an agent-based movement model to reconstruct prehistoric landscape connectivity across Europe.
- Build and process palaeoenvironmental and geospatial datasets for multiple Middle and Late Pleistocene time slices using GIS and R.
- Run computationally intensive agent-based simulations on an HPC cluster and analyse predicted movement corridors and connectivity patterns.
- Compare predicted movement corridors and connectivity networks with archaeological datasets.
- Produce reproducible datasets and code.
- Contribute to one scientific publication and one scientific presentation.
- Engage with the academic community through discussion meetings, journal clubs, and other events.
Profile
- PhD degree completed by the time of appointment in Archaeology, Geography, Geosciences, Ecology, Computer Science, or a related discipline.
- Experience with GIS, spatial analysis, and processing large raster and vector geospatial datasets.
- Programming experience in R (preferred), Python, or another language suitable for spatial analysis and simulation.
- Experience with agent-based modelling or spatial simulation is an advantage.
- Ability to work independently, manage time effectively, and deliver project milestones within a short-term appointment.
- Excellent written and spoken English and strong communication skills.
Practical
- Reproducible European palaeogeographic datasets for multiple Pleistocene time slices.
- Connectivity maps identifying emergent movement corridors, bottlenecks and barriers.
- Comparison of predicted corridors with archaeological site distributions.
- Reproducible R code and documentation.
- Draft manuscript suitable for submission to a peer-reviewed journal.
How to apply
View the full assignment text and application details once your tailored application is ready.
Order a tailored application to view the full assignment and application details.
More context, less searching.
You get enough context to judge whether this job is relevant. The full brief, client details and next steps stay available inside the app.