My pronouns are he/him
I am interested in describing and understanding animal behaviour in its ecological and evolutionary contexts. My work addresses decision making, learning, and so-called intelligent behaviour such as required in tool use and problem solving. My main experimental systems have been birds, especially starlings and New Caledonian crows, but I also work in many other organisms, ranging from ants to humans. Currently I am a member of the project “Science of Intelligence”, funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany’s Excellence Strategy, which aims to integrate research strategies from analysis of animal behaviour with the design of relatively autonomous artificial systems (robots). I am formally retired, but maintain an active research program and still supervise doctorate students. I am presently involved in research projects on penguins, rats, honeybees, fish, parasitic cowbirds and bats, as well as robots.
