I am a member of the Centre for Comparative and Evolutionary Psychology at the School of Psychology, Sport and Health Sciences, having joined Portsmouth in 2022. Prior to this, I worked at the University of Lincoln and held postdoc positions at The University of Tokyo (Japan), SOKENDAI (Japan), and Emory University (USA). I completed my PhD in Animal Behaviour at the Complutense University of Madrid (Spain), have a MSc in Animal Behaviour and a BSc in Biology and Zoology. I am currently the Deputy REF Lead for UoA4 (Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience) and the UoA4 People, Culture and Environment lead.

My primary research interest focuses on the social and emotional skills that animals employ when making decisions about when, and with whom, to interact. This interest has taken me to explore aspects of sociality, conflict resolution, cooperation, and empathy driven behaviours in a range of animals including carnivores, primates and rodents. In recent years, I have become strongly interested in applying fundamental knowledge in animal social complexity to the welfare of both captive and wild animals. I am a member of the University of Portsmouth Macaque Project and the co-director of the Macaca Maura Project.

I teach in our undergraduate programmes of BSc Psychology, Forensic Psychology and Sport and Exercise Psychology courses. I coordinate the Applying Psychological Research Skills module (Level 4). I am a tutor for the Exploring Psychology module (Level 4) and the Professional Development and Employability module (Level 5). I supervise Level 6 students for their final year dissertation, as well as Masters and PhD students.