I am a behavioural ecologist interested in understanding how animals deal with the challenges they face in their environment. I'm particularly interested in the role that the early-life environment has on the development of cognition, social behaviour, and animal cultures, working both in the field and the lab.
I am currently a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow in the Department of Experimental Psychology (CoBE lab) at Ghent University (Belgium) and at EDB at Toulouse III (France; with Prof. Joël White) working on the effect of diet and the gut microbiome on animal cognition in urban environments (project UrbanCog).
Previously, I was a postdoc at Ghent University (Belgium; with Prof. Frederick Verbruggen and Prof. Luc Lens) and at University College Cork (Ireland; with Prof. John Quinn) looking at factors influencing individual variation in cognition, behavioural flexibility and social behaviour.
I conducted my PhD in the School of Biology of the University of St Andrews (UK) under the supervision Prof. Kevin Lala and Dr. Will Hoppitt (University of Leeds). I investigated potential teaching behaviour in several species, as well as social learning strategies. The work was funded by an ERC and a John Templeton Foundation grant. For my thesis, I also collaborated with Prof. Christine Nicol at the University of Bristol (UK), and Prof. Carlos Ruiz-Miranda at the Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro (UENF – Brazil).
NEWS:
Jan 2024: New preprint on stopping behaviour across contexts, and species differences in going and stopping in lesser black-backed gulls and herring gulls.
Dec 2023: New preprint where we experimentally manipulated food distribution and social stability, at a within-group scale, to examine their effects on great tits individual social network metrics.
Nov 2023: New paper on nest traits for the world's birds.
June 2023: New preprint on nest traits for the world's birds.
April 2023: New preprint on individual vocal recognition in spider monkeys.
Jan 2023: Start of the UrbanCog project, funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action.
Nov 2022: New paper on the evolution of primate short-term memory with the ManyPrimates consortium.
Dec 2021: New preprint out with the ManyPrimates consortium! We are looking at the evolution of short term memory in primates.
Oct 2021: New paper on the association between inhibitory control, exploration, ecological context and behavioural flexibility in great tits. The preprint was published earlier last year.
July 2021: Two new papers out this month!
One new paper on consistency of spatial cognition and behavioural flexibility in great tits. The preprint was published earlier last year.
And one new paper in Scientific Reports on non-random associations in male rats.
Dec 2020: New paper on cognition in primates with the ManyPrimates consortium
New preprint on the role of inhibitory control, exploration behaviour, and ecological context on foraging plasticity in great tits
Sept 2020: New preprint on consistency of cognitive measures across tasks.
Aug 2020: Two new papers out this month!
One new paper on intergroup food transfers in wild golden lion tamarins. Preprint published earlier this year. Video of the six observations available on OSF.
One new paper on claims and statistical inference in animal physical cognition. Also has a preprint that was published earlier this year. Open access R code and data on OSF.
June 2020: New paper on food-transfers in wild golden lion tamarins. Open access R code and data on OSF.
May 2020: New paper on factors influencing the duration of avian developmental periods. Open access R code and data on Github.
April 2020: New paper on a new flexible planning task used with kids. Open access data on figshare.
March 2020: New preprint on intergroup food transfers in wild golden lion tamarins.
Feb 2020: New preprint on claims and inferences in animal cognition.
Oct 2019: New preprint on the duration of the developmental period in birds.
June 2019: My interview on teaching behaviour with Le Nid de Pie is now available on podcast here (in French).
April 2019: New paper out in Comparative Cognition & Behavior Reviews, on behavioral and cognitive factors affecting learning and field performance of scent detection dog. Open Access review and response to commentaries.
I am currently a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow in the Department of Experimental Psychology (CoBE lab) at Ghent University (Belgium) and at EDB at Toulouse III (France; with Prof. Joël White) working on the effect of diet and the gut microbiome on animal cognition in urban environments (project UrbanCog).
Previously, I was a postdoc at Ghent University (Belgium; with Prof. Frederick Verbruggen and Prof. Luc Lens) and at University College Cork (Ireland; with Prof. John Quinn) looking at factors influencing individual variation in cognition, behavioural flexibility and social behaviour.
I conducted my PhD in the School of Biology of the University of St Andrews (UK) under the supervision Prof. Kevin Lala and Dr. Will Hoppitt (University of Leeds). I investigated potential teaching behaviour in several species, as well as social learning strategies. The work was funded by an ERC and a John Templeton Foundation grant. For my thesis, I also collaborated with Prof. Christine Nicol at the University of Bristol (UK), and Prof. Carlos Ruiz-Miranda at the Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro (UENF – Brazil).
NEWS:
Jan 2024: New preprint on stopping behaviour across contexts, and species differences in going and stopping in lesser black-backed gulls and herring gulls.
Dec 2023: New preprint where we experimentally manipulated food distribution and social stability, at a within-group scale, to examine their effects on great tits individual social network metrics.
Nov 2023: New paper on nest traits for the world's birds.
June 2023: New preprint on nest traits for the world's birds.
April 2023: New preprint on individual vocal recognition in spider monkeys.
Jan 2023: Start of the UrbanCog project, funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action.
Nov 2022: New paper on the evolution of primate short-term memory with the ManyPrimates consortium.
Dec 2021: New preprint out with the ManyPrimates consortium! We are looking at the evolution of short term memory in primates.
Oct 2021: New paper on the association between inhibitory control, exploration, ecological context and behavioural flexibility in great tits. The preprint was published earlier last year.
July 2021: Two new papers out this month!
One new paper on consistency of spatial cognition and behavioural flexibility in great tits. The preprint was published earlier last year.
And one new paper in Scientific Reports on non-random associations in male rats.
Dec 2020: New paper on cognition in primates with the ManyPrimates consortium
New preprint on the role of inhibitory control, exploration behaviour, and ecological context on foraging plasticity in great tits
Sept 2020: New preprint on consistency of cognitive measures across tasks.
Aug 2020: Two new papers out this month!
One new paper on intergroup food transfers in wild golden lion tamarins. Preprint published earlier this year. Video of the six observations available on OSF.
One new paper on claims and statistical inference in animal physical cognition. Also has a preprint that was published earlier this year. Open access R code and data on OSF.
June 2020: New paper on food-transfers in wild golden lion tamarins. Open access R code and data on OSF.
May 2020: New paper on factors influencing the duration of avian developmental periods. Open access R code and data on Github.
April 2020: New paper on a new flexible planning task used with kids. Open access data on figshare.
March 2020: New preprint on intergroup food transfers in wild golden lion tamarins.
Feb 2020: New preprint on claims and inferences in animal cognition.
Oct 2019: New preprint on the duration of the developmental period in birds.
June 2019: My interview on teaching behaviour with Le Nid de Pie is now available on podcast here (in French).
April 2019: New paper out in Comparative Cognition & Behavior Reviews, on behavioral and cognitive factors affecting learning and field performance of scent detection dog. Open Access review and response to commentaries.