PhD Position – Climate and Hominin Evolution

The Cluster of Excellence “HUMAN ORIGINS” at the University of Tübingen invites applications for a

Doctoral researcher - How did climate shape the movements, interactions, and evolution of hominin populations?
(m/f/d, E13 TV-L, 65%)

The position should start as soon as possible (flexible by agreement) and is limited to three years, with a possibility for extension to a fourth year.

The ‘Human Origins: Excellence Cluster of Integrative Human Origins Studies’ is a newly started Cluster of Excellence at the University of Tübingen. It focuses on the comprehensive, bio-cultural investigation of human evolution, to be examined through the integration of diverse disciplines, diachronically and at different scales throughout the last 5 million years of human evolution.

The position will be located in the Genotype-Phenotype Evolution in Space (GPS) Lab, led by Dr Cecilia Padilla-Iglesias, and will investigate one of the central questions in human evolution: how past climate shaped the distribution, dynamics, and interactions of hominin populations, and how these processes contributed to the origins and diversity of Homo sapiens. In this project, we will combine population genetics, species distribution models, and palaeoclimate reconstructions to build models of past human population dynamics. The aim is to reconstruct how climatic changes influenced the movements, persistence, and interactions of different hominin groups across Eurasia from the Middle Pleistocene onwards, and how these processes contributed to the exceptional range of H. sapiens, the disappearance of other lineages, and present-day human diversity.

Type of work

The doctoral researcher will use climate-informed spatial genetic models (see Padilla-Iglesias et al. 2025), a framework that integrates ecological, genetic, and climatic data to study responses to past environmental change. The project is primarily computational and involves training across several disciplines. The student will work closely with a group of students and postdocs developing quantitative tools for ecological and evolutionary questions, with scope to incorporate morphological, isotopic and archaeological data depending on the student’s interests and the direction the project takes.

Your profile

• Strong interest in human evolution.
• Proficiency in R.
• Some experience with bioinformatics or population genetic data, and enthusiasm for interdisciplinary, quantitative work.
• Experience in archaeology, anthropology, or evolutionary biology is desirable, but candidates from related backgrounds are also encouraged to apply.
• We are looking for a curious, proactive, and intellectually independent candidate who is excited to make the project their own and bring their own questions and ideas to it.

What we offer

The successful candidate will join a highly international and interdisciplinary research environment, with outstanding opportunities for collaboration across genetics, palaeoanthropology, cultural evolution, and biomolecular archaeology. The project will be supervised by Dr Cecilia Padilla-Iglesias, in close collaboration with Prof Cosimo Posth at the Archaeo- and Paleogenetics Group at the University of Tübingen and Prof Andrea Manica and the Evolutionary Ecology Group at the University of Cambridge. The doctoral researcher will benefit from close supervision and mentoring, weekly coding sessions with the Evolutionary Ecology Group in Cambridge, and opportunities to develop strong coding and quantitative skills in R and potentially other languages. There will also be opportunities to engage in collaborative projects and, potentially, to take part in anthropological fieldwork in Africa.

Tübingen is a vibrant university town with a strong international research community and an outstanding environment for doctoral training. The University of Tübingen is committed to equity and diversity and actively promotes equal opportunities. Equally qualified candidates with disabilities will be given preference in the hiring process. The University of Tübingen is committed to increasing the percentage of women in research and teaching and thus encourages women with adequate qualifications to apply. The employment will be handled by the central administration of the University of Tübingen.

How to apply

Please send a single PDF to Dr Cecilia Padilla-Iglesias by the 7th of June 2026 at cecilia.padilla-iglesias@uni-tuebingen.de including:

• a letter of motivation, including information on previous scientific work and publications, if available
• a CV with a complete listing of academic certificates and credentials
• contact details for two referees
• if available, a copy of your Master’s thesis

Informal inquiries are also very welcome. If this type of work sounds interesting to you, feel free to get in touch by email before applying.