Personality. I am interested in the role of individual differences in social behaviour and cognition, and am currently working on several projects on this topic. I have studied genetic correlates of personality traits in chimpanzees, and the role of facial morphology in providing cues to dominance traits. I am also interested in elucidating selection pressures that could have driven species differences in personality trait structure, and previously assessed differences in personality structure in common and Bolivian squirrel monkeys.

Social cognition. I also study perception of social and emotional stimuli, and what this can tell us about individuals' and species' responses to the social environment. Using measures such as gaze and approach behaviour, this has led me to explore methodological issues of cognitive testing, such as whether responses to images reflect responses to real conspecifics, and whether looking times to social stimuli reflect preferences. Recently, I also worked on the development of a macaque avatar to study social cognition in long tailed and rhesus macaques. Currently, I'm using eye tracking methods to study event cognition in great apes.

Animal welfare. The assessment of both personality and  cognition could have long term impacts on how we treat and manage animals, such as assistance animals and those housed in zoos. Understanding individual differences in response to the social and physical environment contributes meaningful knowledge to welfare practices by assessing animal needs at the individual level. A comparative assessment of cognition allows us to understand in what ways other species are similar to humans, a perspective that can help to build respect for these species, and to impact ethical decisions that affect their care and management.