I hold a PhD in Psychology from the University of Stirling, UK and MSc in Environmental Science from the Wageningen University in the Netherlands, which both gave me foundation to pursue studies in conservation and behaviour of primates.

I have worked with a number of primate species since 2003, focusing on long-tailed macaques, chimpanzees, gorillas and bonobos. Although I held research roles with primates in captivity, my primary focus and interest is primate behaviour in the wild. I studied behaviour of wild primates in Uganda, Gabon and Democratic Republic of Congo. This includes the first systematic study of repertoire of gestural communication in wild chimpanzees focusing on adult individuals, and the first investigation of the gestural and vocal determinants of social relationships in wild chimpanzees.

Currently, the focus of my research is a comparative study of vocal and gestural communication and sociality in wild chimpanzees and bonobos. Together with Dr Sam Roberts, I lead the scientific analysis of the project by determining the complexity of communication and its connection to social complexity using social networks approach. I have collected social, ecological and communication data from two groups of wild bonobos at Wamba research camp. My Ph.D. student collected data using the same methodology with wild East African chimpanzees in Uganda. We are now analysing this data to determine how ecological and social variation within and across groups influences efficiency of cognitive processing of social information. The ultimate aim of this analysis is to demonstrate the role of communication in social bonding in complex social and ecological conditions.

Website: Bonobo networks
Email: [email protected]