Current Projects
Research Area 1:
Evolutionary, Comparative & Developmental Psychology; Behavioural Ecology
Exploring evolutionary & developmental drivers of cognition & behaviour within & between-species in a) corvids, primates & children, including on executive function, behavioural flexibility, individual differences, social learning, with research questions like how social context and culture influences self-control in children and other animals to e.g. to inform applications in learning & teaching environments;
b) wild blue & great tits, including urbanisation & anthropogenic effects on behaviour to investigate consequences of human-driven environmental changes.
Collaborators include: Prof Nicky Clayton (Cambridge University); Prof Thomas Bugnyar (Vienna University); Prof Alex Taylor (ICREA); Dr Elias Garcia-Pelegrin (National University of Singapore); Prof Lucy Cheke (Cambridge University); Dr Julia Mackenzie (Anglia Ruskin University); Dr ÇaÄŸlar Akçay (Anglia Ruskin University).
Impact: PhD co-supervision completion - Dr Ning Ding (2018-2022), 34 publications, keynote conference presentations, positive media engagement, £80,000 funds awarded.
Research Area 2:
Big-Team Open Science
Through Big-Team Open Science networks, working to increase accessibility, transparency, inclusivity and representation in science, to change the narrative from competition to collaboration, and to address broad evolutionary questions.
I co-founded and co-lead the “ManyBirds Project” (www.themanybirds.com; @themanybirds.bsky.social) - a large-scale collaborative approach to avian cognition and behaviour research. With 129 collaborators over 23 countries, we tested the evolutionary drivers of neophobia (responses to novelty) across the avian clade in 136 species, 25 orders and 1400+ subjects (ManyBirds, Miller et al, PLOS BIOLOGY submitted publication).
I am also a collaborator on the ManyManys Consortium (https://manymanys.github.io), inc focus on the evolution of cognitive flexibility across taxa from humans to fish.
Collaborators include: ManyBirds Leadership Team (pictured below) - Dr Megan Lambert (Veterinary Medicine University Vienna); Dr Vedrana Šlipogor (University of South Bohemia); Dr Claudia Mettke-Hofmann (Liverpool John Moores University); Dr Kai Caspar (Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf); Dr Jimena Lois-Milevicich (University of Buenos Aires), ManyBirds - 129 collaborators from 77 institutions over 23 countries worldwide; ManyManys - 40+ international collaborators including at Harvard, Princeton & British Columbia Universities.
Impact: 5 publications, international conference presentations, £15,000 funds awarded, Co-Applicant on $2.5 million Canadian grant application pending outcome.
Research Area 3:
Applications of Fundamental Research for Conservation and Welfare Impact
Conservation: Testing conservation relevant cognition & behaviour, linking with fitness-related measures, applying outcomes to improve conservation success, including enhancing reintroduction efforts and guidelines (e.g. pre-release training, individual suitability) and measuring real-world impacts (e.g. survival, reproduction) during reintroduction of: little studied, Critically Endangered Bali myna (UK, Indonesia) and red-billed chough (UK). Research questions inc understanding the role of individual cognitive variation in reintroduction biology.
Welfare: With industry partner, utilising cognition & behaviour research to improve farm animal welfare by informing policy on decision-making process and funding prioritisations for welfare improvements (Rethink Priorities, USA).
Collaborators include: Prof Alex Thornton (Exeter University); Prof Stuart Marsden (Manchester Metropolitan University); Liz Corry (Wildwood Trust); Dr Malcolm Nicoll (Institute for Zoology, Zoological Society of London); Dr Malcolm Burgess (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds); Wildwood Trust (Kent); Paradise Park (Cornwall); Friends of the National Park Foundation (Bali); Rothschild Foundation (UK);
Dr Bob Fischer (Rethink Priorities).
Impact: 3 publications, 2 books, positive media engagement, £120,000 funds awarded, member of IUCN Convention for Migratory Species working group, co-supervision of NERC funded PhD student Sophie Ridgway (starting Oct 2025).
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My Background
My research as Visiting Scholar and Research Associate (Cambridge University, 2015-2026), Honorary Senior Research Fellow (University of Exeter, 2025-2028), Senior Lecturer (Anglia Ruskin University, 2021-2024), PhD (Vienna University, 2012-2016), Research Assistant (Auckland University, 2011; Edinburgh Zoo roles, 2008-2010) and MSc (St Andrews University, 2010-2011) has primarily focused on investigating the evolution of cognition, specifically in birds, non-human primates and humans.
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In my two previous European Research Council funded Research Associate roles, in Prof Nicky Clayton's CCL Lab at Cambridge University, I tested cognition in humans and corvids (crow family), with a particular focus on self-control, behavioural flexibility, social learning and causal reasoning. Key aspects of my Vienna Science and Technology funded PhD in Cognitive Biology, in Prof Thomas Bugnyar's Corvid Lab at Vienna University, involved highlighting the critical role of individual differences, social context and development on cognition in (wild and captive) corvids.
​In parallel, I have a strong background of skills, knowledge and practical experience in animal care, welfare, training and conservation, including roles at Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) Edinburgh Zoo as Avian Research Coordinator, Animal Keeper and Animal Trainer, animal conservation work in Uganda & Zambia and a Zoo Animal Management degree.
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