What kind of career can I have by studying animal behaviour and cognition ?

The short answer? All kinds of things!!

Have you ever considered studying in a field of animal behaviour and wondered what kind of careers are possible following your studies? Or are you a current student in an area related to animal behaviour, welfare, psychology, cognition or human evolution interested in what options might be out there for you?

It is often a challenging field to break into, and not everyone decides to stay in academia or directly continue studying animal behaviour! But everyone is in agreement that the transferable skills learned from hands on experience working in animal behaviour, cognition and welfare research provides our researchers with many career options in the professional world. We caught up with our Living Links (LL) and Budongo Research Unit (BRU) alumni to catch up with past researchers to find out what they are doing now for their careers! From interns and research assistants who have supported the research here, to MSc and PhD students who conducted their thesis research at LL & BRU, and to the more experienced Postdoctoral researchers, all of them have gained skills and experience from working in this field that has taken them to their chosen career paths now and beyond.

From academic publishing companies, dog welfare charities, University lecturers, conservation and biodiversity management, research group leaders, training search and rescue rats, farming, filming, wildlife writing, Human Resources and continued research into animal and human minds, communication and welfare, the different roles are fascinating and very varied! Read on to see what our Alumni are doing now!

Christoph Völter: Research group leader / senior scientist at MPI-EVA (Leipzig) and Vetmeduni Vienna

I’m leading the Comparative Cognition research group within the department of Comparative Cultural Psychology at MPI-EVA (with a focus on great ape cognition). At the same time, I’m the PI of two research projects on canine cognition (with a focus on eye-tracking studies) at the Messerli Research Institute, Vetmeduni Vienna.

Zeynep Civelek: Research Integrity Specialist, Frontiers

After leaving academia, I sought a role that remained connected to science without focusing on research. This led me to a career as a specialist in scientific publishing, where I now contribute to advancing research from a different perspective. The open-access publication process involves specialised teams working collaboratively to make research available for everyone. My role involves ensuring adherence to ethical and publication standards in submissions to uphold the integrity of academic research. Additionally I collaborate with editors to investigate post-publication issues. I work remotely with an amazing and dedicated team of experts!

Elizabeth Warren: Postdoctoral research fellow at Johns Hopkins University

I worked on research with squirrel monkeys, capuchins and chimpanzees at Living Links and BRU (MSc/PhD). In my postdoc position now, I do research with great apes and with dogs, exploring questions like what they think about when they communicate, and whether they can make better decisions as groups than as individuals. I do my primate work in zoos like Maryland Zoo in Baltimore and Indianapolis Zoo, as well as Ngamba Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Uganda. With dogs, we work with the pets of people in our community right here in Baltimore! My supervisor is Chris Krupenye who is also BRU Alumni (see below!).

Shreejata Gupta: Postdoc at Institute for Language, Communication and the Brain, Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France

Having worked with monkeys and apes, examining their gestural communication, I acquired observational and experimental skills in ethology and comparative cognition. Using what I learnt from observing primates in the wild and captivity, I now apply the same methods to investigate preverbal gestures in human infants and test whether they are precursors to the linguistic co-speech gestures in human adults. Additionally, using tools like eye tracking (something I learnt with the chimps at Budongo trail) and neuroimaging techniques (EEG+fNIRS) I am looking at how infants develop their capacities of perception and comprehension of socially produced gestures.

Luke Townrow: PhD candidate at Johns Hopkins University (USA)

I first came to Edinburgh Zoo to work an internship with Professor Josep Call during my psychology undergraduate degree at Cardiff University. I stayed at the zoo for little under a year (cut short by COVID) but I managed to work for and learn from an incredible range of professors and research staff. I had opportunities to work with the chimpanzees, capuchin monkeys, squirrel monkeys and geladas! I met amazing people who I would later work for including Professor Katie Slocombe, before completing my masters with Professor Zanna Clay at Durham University on human empathy and perspective-taking. I am now a 3rd year PhD student at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, USA under the mentorship of Dr. Christopher Krupenye (below!) studying human and nonhuman primate theory of mind and social cognition. 

Elle Jordan: Data Science and Analytics Manager, Dogs Trust (charity sector)

I worked at Living Links & Budongo both for my PhD research with capuchins, and as a keeper. Following my PhD, finding a career where I could use my research skills to positively impact animal welfare led me to the Dogs Trust. In my current role I lead a team of scientists who are developing digitised operational systems and reporting tools to improve dog welfare in rehoming centres. Alongside this I also work on various dog-related research projects ranging from investigating dog behaviour and health post-adoption, to understanding what motivates individuals to adopt dogs.

Christopher Krupenye: Assistant Professor of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University

In my current role, I am fortunate to be able to continue research that is similar in nature to work I did at BRU but now including humans and pet dogs in addition to apes. I also teach a couple classes on the minds of infants and animals, mentor postdocs and postgraduate and undergraduate students on their research, and contribute various forms of service to my department, university, and the field. As one example, I am now an Associate Editor at an academic journal, Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Donna Kean: PostDoc Researcher, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

After completing my PhD in primate cognition, I went on to work as a Behavioural Research Scientist at an NGO called APOPO, based in Tanzania, where I was training African giant pouched rats to do search and rescue, to detect disease, and to identify soil contamination for environmental clean-up projects!

Following this, I now work as a Post-doctoral Researcher at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, working in a team to build ‘Rat Villages’ used to conduct automated touchscreen behavioural tasks researching the evolution of cognition and welfare.

Abi Gwynn: Market Gardener at Soul Farm, previously role Programme Development and Liaison Officer at Borneo Nature Foundation.

Abi was a Research Assistant at Living Links working with the capuchin monkeys on a working memory experiment. She later studied for her Masters at Exeter University and conducted research on monitoring GI parasites in wild orang-utans and how this can help inform conservation. This led her to a previous role with the Borneo Nature Foundation as a Programme Development and Liaison Officer. Continuing in the nature industry Abi has now moved on to another passion of hers and works in the farming sector.

Matthias Allritz: PostDoc Researcher, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany

After working many years with the chimpanzees in the Budongo Research Unit I have moved back to the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and I am carrying out studies on cognition in all four great ape species at Leipzig Zoo, gorillas, orangutans, bonobos and of course chimpanzees! I am currently working on studies regarding communication and spatial cognition.

Anna Redly: Research Assistant (ADHD Research), Kings College London

I have a background in Neuroscience (BSc) and Comparative & Evolutionary Psychology (MSc). In my time at Living Links I really enjoyed working in research and public engagement and running an experiment with the capuchins, but realised after that mental health is my true passion! I worked for a year in the SEN department at a secondary school and am now a research assistant on a project about ADHD in adolescents.

Sophia Daoudi-Simison: Animal Behaviour Lecturer, Newcastle University

I have a permanent teaching position at Newcastle University which has allowed me to continue my research in primate behaviour and welfare. Having previously worked as a research assistant and student at Living Links, it’s quite a change to now be supervising my own projects. I’ve broadened my research to include geladas, marmosets, and chimpanzees, building on my earlier work with capuchins, squirrel monkeys, and lemurs. In addition to research in zoos, my work has taken me to the field in countries such as Suriname, Peru, and Costa Rica, enhancing my understanding of primate behaviour in various contexts. I also collaborate with Living Links on citizen science initiatives. I’m committed to advancing our knowledge in the field, particularly in ecologically valid methods that consider the behavioural ecology of the study species.

Leoma Williams: Biodiversity Consultant & Freelance writer for BBC Wildlife Magazine

I spent many cherished years working with the Edinburgh chimpanzees (MSc/PhD), as well as other intelligent animals such as ravens. Leaving academia I was very keen to find a job that allowed me to continue working with and for animals, in a way that felt practical and important. I now work as a biodiversity specialist for a large environmental consultancy. This involves working with international clients to help projects – be that infrastructure, energy, or resource extraction – to comply with environmental regulations, to ensure that negative impacts on biodiversity are avoided, minimised, mitigated, or compensated for. I use a lot of the skills I gained in academia in this role – analysing literature to gather important species data, writing clear and accurate reports,  presenting data, as well as fieldwork to survey animal populations.

I am also very lucky in that I am able to utilise my chimpanzee knowledge gained at Edinburgh Zoo in this role, as some projects involve analysing risks to wild chimpanzees and may involve conducting chimpanzee surveys in Africa in the future! In addition to this FT role I also write regular columns for BBC Wildlife Magazine on various nature topics, something I have been doing for several years and am happy to be able to keep as a fun sideline. I have a life-long love for animals (as can be seen from my wedding photo from this summer!) and  I feel very grateful to be able to talk, write, and think about animals every day, even outside of academia.

Amy Derrick: H&S advisor, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, nature conservation charity

I was at Living Links for a few months working as an intern research assistant for Donna Kean above, carrying out research with the capuchin monkeys. My plan was to find further research positions in the future, but after a bit of soul searching and working in the gardening industry, I realised that wasn’t the right path for me. However I knew I still wanted to stay somewhere within the natural world/research/conservation industry and so eventually found myself in the RSPB. Not in a direct conservation role, but instead working as a H&S advisor which involves me supporting the people and the work being carried out for essential conservation work in Scotland, which allows me to still feel satisfied that I’m doing my bit! I get to work at some beautiful locations, like the RSPB Abernethy Reserve pictured below!

Leave a comment