Graph Theory & Algorithms for Evolutionary Biology: Encoding, reconstructing and comparing complex evolutionary scenarios

The optimisation group at Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands is seeking a PhD student on the project “Encoding, reconstructing and comparing complex evolutionary scenarios” financed by The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). This project aims at developing new graph theory, algorithms and software tools which can be used by biologists to reconstruct networks describing the evolutionary relationships between species. The standard, well-studied model for describing such relationships is the phylogenetic tree, which has leaves representing species and internal vertices representing divergence events. However, actual evolutionary histories are often complex webs of diverging and combining lineages, which can better be described by networks than by trees. Accurately reconstructing such networks is a challenging task. This project therefore involves the development of new (graph) theory, algorithms and software as well as working with biologists to apply the developed theory and software in practice. For more information, see https://www.academictransfer.com/employer/TUD/vacancy/36363/lang/en/