The CoCoMo Team

I am a behavioral ecologist with training in comparative psychology and ethology. Broadly, I am interested in social cognition, communication, and decision-making in animal societies. For my PhD, I will be studying how spotted hyenas communicate to obtain relevant information that further shapes their decision-making on group coordination. I am excited to combine acoustic, GPS, and accelerometer data to address questions on the social decision-making process in spotted hyenas.

I am a behavioral ecologist interested in communication in social mammals and its self-regulated coordination. In meerkats, I study the interaction aspect of communication such as the timing of the vocalisation and the social dynamics of vocal exchanges. I also explore breathing as a potential indicator of vocalisation intention and as a possible social cue aiding in regulation of signalling turns. 

• Communication & Collective Movement • Turn-taking • Meerkats  • Hyrax

In my current research I try to understand how an individual’s ability to coordinate with others is affected by experiences early in life and whether these differences ultimately affect individual fitness. I address these questions by studying vocal signals used to coordinate group activity in two study systems, the domestic chicken and the common pheasant. This work is in close collaboration with Dr Joah Madden (University of Exeter) and Prof Andrew Radford (University of Bristol). 

• Communication & Collective Movement  • Group coordination  • Spatial and acoustic data  • Common pheasant  • Domestic chicken

I am a behavioural ecologist, interested in communication in social mammals. Collaring white-nosed coatis living in Panama, I collect audio, high-resolution accelerometer and GPS data to assemble a call repertoire in combination with observed behaviours. I study the resulting effects of vocalisations on group cohesion, dynamics and movement, and the influence of environmental variation on mechanisms used in communication.

Communication & Collective Movement • Food For Thought • Coatis 

I am a computational biologist, interested in collective animal behaviour and movement patterns. My work is focused on social factors that affect synchronisation of wake-sleep cycles in animals. in cooperation with the Jordan lab, I will combine theoretical and experimental approaches to study these factors in cichlid fish. Using a model-fitting approach, I will address questions about the social dimension of synchronisation. 

Behavioural state dynamics • Social entrainment • Wake-sleep cycle • Spotted hyenas • Cichlid fish