I lead the Cognitive and Cultural Ecology (CCE) Group, and head the SERI (ERC StG) project CULTURES ADAPT. Our lab studies cognition and social behaviour, and we are especially interested their interactions and emergent properties, including social cognition, behavioural flexibility and animal culture.

I currently hold joint positions as SNSF Professor at the Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies at the University of Zurich, and as a Senior Lecturer at the Research School of Biology at the Australian National University. 

Previously, I held a Max Planck Research Group Leader Fellowship at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour (Germany), a Junior Research Fellow at St John's College, University of Oxford (UK), and a visiting research fellow at the Australian Museum. Before that, I studied for my PhD jointly at the Australian National University and the University of Oxford, and did my BSc(Hons) at the Australian National University. 

My research explores the interactions between cognition, sociality and ecology, mostly in birds. I am especially interested the emergent properties of these interaction- social networks, animal culture and cultural evolution. Recent work has explored the spread of innovation across social and geographic networks, and how cultures change over time in response to social and environmental drivers. Current themes and projects include:

Culture and Cultural Evolution in Birds:

• Urban cultural ecology in sulphur-crested cockatoos (Cacatua galerita)
• The spread of the bin-opening innovation in sulphur-crested cockatoos (Cacauta galerita)
• Experimental tests of the drivers of cultural evolution in great tits (Parus major)

Vocal Dialects and Cultural Processes:

• Social and vocal complexity in monk parakeets (Myiopsitta monachus)
• Social processes driving vocal convergence and drift in cockatiels (Nymphicus hollandicus)

Social Cognition:

• Social cognition in social networks of cockatoos (Cacauta galerita)

Comparative studies of the evolution of cognition and culture:

• Co-evolution of brain size, sociality and life-history in parrots