International Max Planck Research School for Quantitative Behaviour, Ecology and Evolution (IMPRS-QBEE)

The  Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, jointly with the Department of Biology at the University of Konstanz collaborate in the International Max Planck Research School for Quantitative Behaviour, Ecology and Evolution from lab to field (IMPRS-QBEE) that was launched in 2022. 

Our doctoral students are actively part of the IMPRS board. In this way, they contribute directly to their own program.

Vision Statement

The vision of the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior (MPI-AB) shall lay the grounds for the new IMPRS-QBEE in that we shall prepare our IMPRS graduates to understand and predict behavior, ecology and evolution in the natural world. By developing and applying emerging technological and analytical approaches, our mission is to reveal the drivers of behavior, ecology and evolution across temporal, spatial, organizational, and taxonomic scales. To take up this challenge in all its complexity, we bring together a diverse, interdisciplinary IMPRS faculty, as well as multiple collaborative research opportunities, to produce rigorous and reproducible science that is shared openly. In this way, we contribute positively to the global research community and provide scientific training, in our innovative IMPRS structured program, to empower the next generation. We foster a supportive and inclusive work environment, together with our faculty members of the Department of Biology of the University of Konstanz that will further promote intellectual exchange and productive collaboration.

The IMPRS-QBEE is a structured graduate program for outstanding doctoral students from around the world whose research interests lie within the fields of animal behaviour, ecology, evolution, physiology and neurobiology and are seeking a starting platform with a stimulating and competitive environment to give their careers a boost.

The IMPRS-QBEE that started in January, 2022 represents an integrated theoretical and experimental research program for doctoral students studying different organisms from plants to protozoa to mammals. It will allow doctoral students to investigate fundamental questions such as how can plant species coexist, how do plants, microbes and animals interact, how and why has social behaviour evolved, how ecological changes might drive evolutionary processes, how large ecological systems adapt or not to rapid changes, what are the neural mechanisms underlying simple to complex behaviours, how do large animal societies emerge and function, and what drives animal migration and how is it affected by global developments. Experimental work can be carried out in both the laboratory and the field. It is complemented by highly quantitative approaches and the use of new emerging technologies.