Staff profile

Research

I am a postdoctoral research associate studying comparative psychology in great apes. My research interests include empathy and other emotional processes, decision-making, rationality, and conflict management. I am particularly interested in how individual and social characteristics influence variation in the aforementioned concepts.

I completed my bachelor's and master's degrees at the University of Kent and my PhD at Durham University, where I now work. My postdoctoral placement is funded through a grant obtained with Prof Zanna Clay and Dr Edwin van Leeuwen (Utrecht University). We are investigating how social structures influence individual and collective decision-making and collective action.

I have worked with captive, wild, and sanctuary-living populations of primates. My current research is focused on great apes, but I have interests in and some experience studying human populations. I primarily work at Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage Trust in Zambia, where I also sit on the Research Advisory Board.

• Empathy
• Great ape social behaviour
• Conflict management
• Comparative psychology
• Collective action
• Decision-making
• Social structures