Team


Roz Dakin, Principal Investigator

I am fascinated by animal behaviour, how it works, and how it evolves. I completed my BSc, MSc and PhD at Queen’s University, and was a postdoctoral fellow at UBC and the Smithsonian. I am passionate about data and quantitative biology.


Graduate Students

Ilias Berberi, PhD – Social and ecological competition

Emil Isaksson, PhD – Social learning in birds (co-supervised Julien Martin)

Caitlin Menzies, MSc – Social behaviour in turtles (co-supervised Christina Davy)

Ru Ratnayake, MSc – Effects of the environment on social structure


Undergraduate Students

Augusto Urena Pichardo

Amy Bachhuber

Rebecca Moreno

Emily Cornthwaite

Rami Al-Arabi

Nader St-Amant


Alumni

Post-doc

Dr. Ethan Hermer, 2022-23 – Heuristics in science

Graduate Students

Courtney Donkersteeg, MSc 2022 – Exploration behaviour in hummingbirds

Erin Jackson, MSc 2022 – Bird migration dynamics

Undergraduate Honours and Project Students

Rami Al-Arabi 2022-23 – Bird skeletal anatomy

Lauren Miner 2022-23 – Hummingbird skeletal anatomy

Emily Cornthwaite 2022-23 – Local hummingbird feeder monitoring

Justyna Fleming 2021-22 – Inheritance of social capital

Jessica Bellefeuille 2020-22 – Winter flocking in birds

Brenna Gagliardi 2020-22 – Scaling of social network properties

Ashley Irwin 2020-21 – Interpretation of data by scientists

Jenna Watson 2020-21 – Mate choice for social skills

Grace Simonds 2020-21 – Bird distributions & urbanization

Zoe Hillier-Weltman 2020-21 – Bird population estimates & observer age

Kara Scott 2020-21 – Weather and bird building collisions

Courtney Donkersteeg 2019-20 – Aerial insectivore population declines

Paisley Clunis 2019-20 – Reciprocity in social networks

Erin Jackson 2019-20 – Flight morphology and bird collisions

Undergraduate Research Awards

Emily Cornthwaite 2023 – NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award

Nader St-Amant 2023 – Laura Thomas Summer Research Internship in Biology

Eric Maquignaz 2022 – Social networks across species, iCureus Award

Charlotte Jerome 2021 – Hummingbird foraging behaviour, DSRI Award

Kara Scott 2020 – Bird collisions with windows, iCureus Award

Volunteers and Technicians

Many thanks to Lauren Miner, Albana Berberi, Kara Scott, Kyna Crumley, Blossom Opanike, Mahmoud El-Saadi, and other excellent volunteers who have been helping with our research!