The Insect Robotics group led by Prof. Barbara Webb, in the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh, has two funded positions available for PhD candidates, to start no later than January 2021. The topic of research will be the neural mechanisms of navigation in insects, building on our recent work modelling the central complex and the mushroom body circuits. Insects have relatively small brains but exhibit substantial intelligence and flexibility in their ability to navigate complex environments, providing an opportunity to understand problems of learning, generalisation, cue integration etc. at the level of single neurons and their connectivity. The primary project aim will be to build detailed computational models, working closely with anatomical and physiological data from our project partners, and to explore the behavioural consequences in simulated and robot agents. There will also be the opportunity to do behavioural experiments on relevant model species such as ants and dung beetles, to complement the modelling results. Students will be fully supported for 3.5 years with a standard stipend, all fees covered, and an allowance for travel and research costs. Interested candidates should in the first instance contact Barbara Webb <B.Webb@ed.ac.uk>. Further information about the research degrees in Informatics at Edinburgh and the formal application process can be found here: https://www.ed.ac.uk/informatics/postgraduate -- The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336.