PhD project:

Goffin's cockatoos are skilled tool users and manufacturers, a rare phenomenon in the animal kingdom. Next to that, they are extremely playful birds showing high levels of object play, even among adults. During this play, they often combine objects, which could help them to innovate new tools or solutions.

Therefore, I study the cockatoos' combinatory actions in both play and non-play experiments at the Goffin lab near Vienna supervised by Dr. Alice Auersperg and Prof. Ludwig Huber. By placing our findings in their ecological context, we hope to answer how these actions can help them innovate new ways to use tools. 

Past experiences:

Originally, coming from the Netherlands, I did my bachelor's in Biology at Utrecht University. After that, I continued in Utrecht with my master’s in Environmental biology (track: Behaviour ecology). My master’s thesis was on a cooperation study in long-tailed macaques and later I did a second internship on prosociality in azure-winged magpies. After graduating my master's, I moved to Vienna to start my current PhD-project at the University of Veterinary medicine in Vienna.

Outside the lab:

In my freetime, I greatly enjoy visiting zoos and musea. I was also a educational volunteer at one of my favourite zoos back when I was still in the Netherlands. Furthermore, I like to go swimming, reading some fantasy books and I'm always in for watching a good movie. 

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