Lab Members
CCE (Aplin) Lab
Research Group Leader
Prof. Dr Lucy Aplin
I am a cognitive ecologist who studies information use, social networks and culture, mostly in wild birds. My work asks questions like: how do new behaviours emerge, spread and persist in animal populations? Are these are a source of behavioural flexibility? Can cultural inheritance form an important component of a species’ ecology? What is the relationship between social systems and cultural evolution? My CV
Postdoctoral Researchers
Michael Chimento
Michael recently defended his PhD in the Aplin lab. He is continuing this work as a postdoc in the Aplin lab at the University of Zurich. He splits his time between experiments on social learning and cultural evolution in tits as part of the Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, and as postdoc on the CES grant, modelling cultural arms races between humans and cockatoos.
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Julia Penndorf
Julia recently defended her PhD in the Aplin lab, and has moved to the ANU to start a postdoc with us on cognition x social networks in urban sulphur crested cockatoos. She asks how social interactions affect behaviour, learning and decision-making.
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PhD Students
Stephen Tyndel
Stephen started his PhD in Oct. 2019, and is a DAAD scholar. Previously he was at Uni. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he studied hybridisation and vocal dialects in warblers. His PhD project investigates social dynamics and vocal flexibility in parrots, looking at vocal dialect formation.
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Simeon Smeele
Simeon started his PhD in Sept. 2019 cosupervised by Mary Brooke McElreath (MPI-EVA). Previously, he was at Uni. of Southern Denmark. His PhD project explores the social x vocal complexity hypothesis, both in monk parakeets and with comparative analyses across parrots. More information
Lisa Fontana
Lisa started her PhD with the Aplin Lab in June 2022 . Previously, she was at Uni. of Turin and the International School of Advanced Studies in Trieste, where she studied neurobiology in rats. Her PhD project explores the evolution of cognitive and cultural complexity in parrots . More information
Sofia Bolcato
Sofia just started her PhD in Feb 2023. Previously, she was at Uni. of Padua and has worked with central America in macaw conservation. Her PhD project explores the link between environmental factors, urbanisation and cultural diversity .
Masters/Honours/Bachelor Students
Han Zhu
Han is a honours student at the Australian National University (2023). She is doing her project in Aplin lab, looking at innovation and learning in cockatoos.
Grace Hudson
Grace is a honours student at the Australian National University (2023-2024). She is doing her project in Aplin lab, co-supervised by Karen Marsh. She is working on the foraging ecology of Canberra's cockatoos.
Lab Alumni
Dr Barbara Klump
Postdoc 2018-2023: Barbara's postdoc explored innovative behaviours in urban sulphur-crested cockatoos, focusing on the "bin opening innovation" discovered in south Sydney.
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Dr Sonja Wild
Postdoc 2019-2022: Sonja joined the lab in September 2019, after a PhD on social networks in dolphins at the University of Leeds. Sonja's postdoc investigated social networks and social learning in tits, as part of the Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour. From Nov 2022 she will hold a Swiss SNSF Mobility Postdoc to go to the Sih lab at UC Davis.
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Gustavo Alarcon Nieto
Lab Manager 2018-2022: Gustavo is a Colombian biologist who spent the early years of his career studying conservation biology of birds in the Amazon. As our lab manager, he helped to run the field projects and lab work, and managed our ringing project. Gustavo has moved on to start a PhD project at the MPIAB, tracking oilbirds in Colombia
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Dr Gaelle Fehlmann
Postdoc 2018-2021: Gaelle joined the lab after completed her PhD at Swansea University on urban baboons. She moved onto a Brigitte-Lange Research Fellowship, working in the Safran Lab at MPIAB
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Mohnish Deshpande
2023: Masters student at Uni. Konstanz Mohnish is a computer scientist. He has recently submitted his thesis, cosupervised with Prof. Bastian Goldluecke. He worked on machine learning approaches to the recognition and identification of paint marks in sulphur-crested cockatoos.
Killian Gregory
2019: Masters student at Ens Lyons. 6 mth internship in the lab studying social stability and personality in tits.
Fraser Campbell
2023: Intern. Fraser is an undergraduate at the University of Plymouth . He undertook an internship in Aplin lab from March - September 2023.
Jana Hoersch
2017-19: Masters student. Jana studied whether urban SC cockatoos could learn to recognise human faces.
Glenn Honstetter
2022: Bachelor student at Uni. Konstanz. Glenn studied the formation of dominance hierarchies in captive cockatiels
Alid Al Asmar
2018: Masters student at Ens Lyons. Alid did a 6 mth internship in the lab studying collective problem solving in zebra finches.
Sally Vistalli
2021: Masters student at Ens Lyons. 6 mth internship in the lab. Sally studied whether information about nest-lining material could be socially transmitted in tits
David Walters
2021: Bachelor student at Uni. Konstanz. David described a new innovation in urban sulphur-crested cockatoos; "water-bubbler drinking".
Tim Jager
2020: Bachelor Student. Tim studied whether information about nest-lining material could be socially transmitted
Collaborators
Dr Mary Brooke McElreath
Mary Brooke is based the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, but is associated with the CCE Lab / MPI-AB. Her work is focused on a variety of topics, from social system to resource inheritance, and cultural traditions. She uses both theoretical modelling and empirical, field-based research to better understand behavioural dynamics.
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Dr John Martin
John is a terrestrial ecologist at the University of Western Sydney. He uses citizen science and tracking technologies to study movement ecology in various species, from foxes and bats to cockatoos. John runs the Wing-tags and Hollows-as-homes projects, and is our collaborator on the Clever Cockie Project, studying the behaviour of Sydney's sulphur-crested cockatoos.
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Prof. Dr Damien Farine
Damien is an Excellenza Professor at the University of Zurich, and an Associate Professor at the Australian National University. He uses tracking technologies to study collective movement and social networks in various species, including captive zebra finches and vulturine guinea fowl. Damien is our collaborator on several projects that involve social network modelling and developing new methodological approaches.
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