profile
Laure Olivier
Postgraduate Research Student
Washington Singer
Washington Singer Laboratories, University of Exeter, Perry Road, Prince of Wales Road, Exeter, EX4 4QG, UK
Overview
My current research project suits my interests in behaviour, ecology, cognition and cooperation. Supervised by Dr. Andy Higginson, Dr. Tim Fawcett and Prof. Andy Radford (Bristol University), it seeks to understand how cooperative breeders make decisions, in a attempt to integrate mechanisms and evolution. I am working within the Centre for Research on Animal Behaviour.
Qualifications
I studied Biology at the University of Rennes 1, in France. The research internship I undertook at the University of Strasbourg on rooks bolstered my motivation to understand animal behaviour. During my Masters in Animal Behaviour in Rennes, I was involved in two research projects. In Cambridge, I worked on visual perspective taking, as part of a project on Theory of Mind in humans. I then studied rock hyraxes (Procavia capensis) in South Africa for a project on vocal communication.
Research group links
Research
Research projects
Project Title: Variability and uncertainty in the reproductive games of cooperative breeders.
Supervisor: Dr. Andy Higginson
Co-supervisors: Dr. Tim Fawcett and Prof. Andy Radford
Funding Body: GW4+ NERC DTP
Project Description:
My project aims at understanding the evolutionary and psychological mechanisms underpinning cooperative breeding, by investigating how variability and uncertainty influence cooperation.