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Research Interests

My research interests focus on animal cognition, behaviour and welfare. I am fascinated by how animals learn, individually and socially, and how the acquired information can help them to cope with the challenges of everyday life, in the wild as well as in captivity. I have a strong background in ethology and I believe that, instead of determining which animals are more “intelligent”, it is more fruitful to embed the study of animal behaviour, cognition and welfare in a species specific ecological context. Biotic and abiotic factors influence animal behaviour and cognition. My research aims to understand how these factors influence the expression and development of behaviour and cognition and how this differs across species. In particular, the evolutionary developmental approach is immensely beneficial in answering my questions and can also bring novel perspectives to research into more applied aspects of behaviour and cognition in the context of welfare and conservation. Therefore, I am most excited about combining evo-devo and comparative approaches to understand the evolution of cognition in an ecologically relevant context.

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