About me

I am a behavioural biologist and biological anthropologist, with broad interests at the nexus of wild animal sociality and group-living, human-wildlife interactions, and the effects of these behaviours on microbial or parasite ecology. I am interested in what factors might influence sociality and social structure in primates and other group-living animals, how animals' social life influences their behavioural flexibility and adaptive responses to anthropogenic factors, and why these behaviours are integral to animal health through their effects on assemblages of microbial and parasitic communities within hosts. To these ends I have largely studied nonhuman primates, specifically multiple species of macaques (Macaca spp.) across South and South East Asia. I have also recently commenced collaborative research on wild meerkats (Suricatta suricata) at the Kalahari Research Centre (KRC: https://kalahariresearchcentre.org/ ) in South Africa. My research draws on theory, field, laboratory, and analytical approaches from across a range of interdisciplinary sciences: behavioural ecology, evolutionary anthropology, microbial ecology and epidemiology, conservation biology and coupled human-natural systems. 

The significance of my research is two-fold: gaining insights into the ecology and evolution of human sociality, and mitigating human-wildlife conflict through evaluating some of the behavioural and health-related outcomes of these interactions.

Download my CV here