Hello! I am a lecturer at the School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, and a Visiting Researcher and Lecturer at the University of Cambridge. My expertise is in animal cognition, molecular ecology and behavioural ecology. I gravitate towards studying animals in the natural habitat in the which they evolved. This means I get to spend a lot of time outdoors in the field. I also love coding and data analysis.
I completed a PhD (2014) at the Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge investigating the intelligence of wild birds of the corvid family (crows, jackdaws, rooks, jays). Next I was a senior post-doc at University College Cork working on an ERC-funded project on the evolutionary ecology of cognition in wild birds (Great tits, Parus major) (2015-2019). I was awarded an Isaac Newton Trust and Leverhulme Trust Early Career Research Fellowship at the University of Cambridge (2019-2022) to conduct independent research on the interplay between the gut microbiome, environment and cognition in wild birds. I was awarded a Junior Research Fellowship at Wolfson College and took on the role of the president of the Science Society. I am a Fellow of The Higher Education Academy (Advance HE).
My research has:
- Developed novel field paradigms using custom autonomous devices to measure cognitive and behavioral variation in hundreds of free-living birds
- Uncovered gut microbiome variation linked to suites of host phenotypes and fitness in wild birds and freshwater molluscs
- Identified dietary impacts on gut microbiome and cognition in wild birds
- Described environmental and life-history factors influencing wild bird gut microbiota
- Produced seminal papers on theoretical frameworks for microbiome-mediated behaviour and developed methodological toolkits for inferring mechanisms and causal - relationships in complex wild systems
I love communicating science and engaging with public audiences on wild animal behaviour and conservation, and provide several talks to wildlife groups across England, offer bird ringing demonstrations, and participate in BioBlitz programs. I am passionate about education, and I lecture in behavioural ecology, evolutionary ecology, comparative cognition, research methods and statistics.
I am a British Trust for Ornithology bird ringer, a member of the British Ecological Society, Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour, Cambridge Philosophical Society and the Cambridge Canoe Club. I’m a music lover, I was classically trained in music theory and piano, and later switched to playing electric guitar. I regularly attend live music shows. I speak french and I’m learning modern greek.