A few key research themes in CRAB are listed below. This list is intended to give a general flavour of some our research, but all of us have research interests beyond those in the list below. Please see individual profile pages for a fuller picture of our interests.

The how and why of social decisions

We are interested in the mechanisms that underpin the relationships between animals. This includes understanding the role of physiology, experience, aggression, and cooperation in developing and maintaining social bonds.

Staff members working on this question include Andy Higginson, Darren Croft, Lauren Brent, Safi Darden, Sam Ellis, Tim Fawcett

The consequences of sociality

We are interested in the implications of social decisions for, among other things, social network structure, welfare, fitness, health, ageing and the evolution of menopause.

Staff members working on this question include Darren Croft, Lauren Brent, Paul Rose, Sam Ellis

Sexual and mating behaviour

We are interested in how individuals attract and choose mates- and the behavioural and evolutionary implications of these decisions.

Staff members working on this question include: Joah Madden, Safi Darden, Tim Fawcett

Perception and Decision-Making

We are interested in the mechanisms underlying - and evolution of – perception, cognition and decision-making in animals.

Staff members working on this question include Andy Higginson, Joah Madden, Lisa Leaver, Natalie Hempel de Ibarra, Stephen Lea

Mechanisms of behaviour

We are interested in the hormonal, physiological and neurophysiological basis of behaviour.

Staff members working on this question include: Andy Higginson, Lauren Brent, Natalie Hempel de Ibarra, Safi Darden, Stephen Lea, Tim Fawcett

Welfare and conservation

We are also interested in applying the study of animal behaviour. Key applications of our research include: animal welfare, conservation and understanding ecological-impacts.

Staff members working on this question include: Andy Higginson, Paul Rose, Joah Madden

We offer and support a variety of Postgraduate degrees in CRAB.

MSc in Animal Behaviour

CRAB offers a taught MSc programme with a strong emphasis on research. Half of the course involves training in research methods including experimental design, a broad overview of research approaches of behavioural ecology, advanced statistics, and evaluating and communicating research. This part of the course culminates in a residential field trip to Lundy Island where students put the skills they have learnt into practise.

All members of CRAB are involved in the programme, and we pride ourselves that on our MSc students are more involved in the research culture than is typical of taught Masters programmes. Reflecting this, the second half of the course is the research apprenticeship, in which students are embedded in the research group of a member of CRAB, working alongside PhD and postdoctoral researchers. Please see our Research and Study Systems sections to find out more about some of the research you could be involved in.

Research Apprenticeships regularly result in scientific publications. Recent ones include:

• Grimes C, Brent LJN, Ellis S, Weiss MN, Franks DW, Ellifrit DK, Croft DP. (2023) Postreproductive female killer whales reduce socially inflicted injuries in their male offspring. Curr Biol https://10.1016/j.cub.2023.06.039
• McCully FR, Rose PE (2023) Individual personality predicts social network assemblages in a colonial bird. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-29315-3
• Hollon SH, García-Ruiz I, Veen T et al. (2023) The evolution of dynamic and flexible courtship displays that reveal individual quality. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-023-03296-9
• George AJ, Rose PE (2023) Wing condition does not negatively impact time budget, enclosure usage, or social bonds in a flock of both full-winged and flight-restrained greater flamingos https://doi.org/10.1002/zoo.21791
• Des Pallieres CG, Rose PE (2023) Two’s company, three species is a crowd? A webcam-based study of the behavioural effects of mixed-species groupings in the wild and in the zoo. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284221
• Knoch S, Whiteside MA., Madden JR., Rose PE, Fawcett TW (2022) Hot-headed peckers: thermographic changes during aggression among juvenile pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) http://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2020.0442
• Kidd P, Ford S, Rose PE (2022) Exploring the Effect of the COVID-19 Zoo Closure Period on Flamingo Behaviour and Enclosure Use at Two Institutions https://doi.org/10.3390/birds3010009
• Langridge KV, Wilke C, Riabinina O, Vorobyev M, Hempel de Ibarra N (2021). Approach direction prior to landing explains patterns of colour learning in bees. Frontiers in Physiology https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2021.697886
• Frasnelli E, Robert T, Chow PKY, Scales B, Gibson S, Manning N, Philippides AO, Collett TS, Hempel de Ibarra N (2021). Small and large bumblebees invest differently when learning about flowers. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.11.062
• Leaver, L.A., Ford, S., Miller, C.W. et al. (2020) Learning is negatively associated with strength of left/right paw preference in wild grey squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis). https://doi.org/10.3758/s13420-019-00408-2=Nicholls E, Krishna S, Wright O, Stabler D, Krefft A, Somanathan H, Hempel de Ibarra N (2019). A matter of taste: the adverse effect of pollen compounds on the pre-ingestive gustatory experience of sugar solutions for honeybees. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-019-01347-z
• Cenni C, Fawcett TW (2018) The coevolution of juvenile play–fighting and adult competition. https://doi.org/10.1111/eth.12732

Find out more information about the course on the course information page, and do not hesitate to get in touch with Dr Andy Higginson (course leader) or any other member of CRAB staff to find out more information.

MSc(Res) in Animal Behaviour

We also support Master’s by Research – MSc(Res) - students. Unlike an MSc, an MSc(Res) has no taught component, and consists solely of a research project. Achieving an MSc(Res) involves working closely with a member(s) of staff on a particular research topic. Please see our Research and Study Systems sections to see some of our research interests. Achieving an Master’s by Research typically takes 2 years. Please get in touch with staff to discuss potential projects or to find out if a taught or research Masters course is best for you.

PhD Studentships

We have a long history of attracting funding for PhD studentships. PhD students are crucial members of the CRAB research team and are typically highly productive and go onto careers in science. We have access to a small number of Research Council (BBSRC/NERC/ESRC/EPSRC) studentships each year that are allocated on a competitive basis. In addition, we have had

success in developing collaborative PhD studentships with external funding bodies including the GWCT, DEFRA, Dairy Co etc. We advertise these projects on FindaPhD.com, the CRAB twitter (‘X’) account, staff twitter accounts and the university web pages. Look out in these places for upcoming studentships and we encourage potential applicants to get in touch with the staff members concerned directly before applying.

Beyond these studentships we are always keen to hear from students who wish to pursue a PhD. Please be aware that we receive many such inquiries, so to make yours stand out, please consider putting together a 1-2 page summary covering: your conceptual research interests, the specific question that you would like to tackle, a suitable study system to pursue this question, and some outline methods you may use in pursuit of the question.

CRAB research takes place across a range of vertebrate and invertebrate study systems in the lab, on campus, and at field sites in the UK and across the world.

We have access to a variety of equipment to facilitate experiments and to collect data, including a 3-D printer, invertebrate flight cages, an infrared thermal camera, the Atlas reverse GPS system, biologgers, and including equipment housed within the Psychology Department, such as a driving simulator, bio-behavioural lab spaces, EEG, TMS, eye tracking, and fMRI.

We’re also home to experts in theoretical approaches to the study of behaviour (game theory, dynamic programming, evolutionary simulations), and in the application of social network analysis.

The Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour hosts a series of seminars. All are welcome. All seminars can be watched with members of the department or via Zoom. If the speaker presents in person the room number is first. If the speaker presents via Zoom the room number is shown in brackets. 

Other seminar series that may be of interest:

• Psychology School seminars.
• Mood Disorders Centre Think Tank seminars
• Cognition Research Group seminars: Tuesdays, 1pm in Room 105 Washington Singer
• Biosciences research seminars in Exeter and Cornwall.

2023-24

2022-23

2021-22

2020-21

The University of Exeter hosts one of the biggest groups of animal behaviour researchers worldwide, studying a diverse range of topics including foraging behaviour, animal cognition, social organisation, life-history evolution, animal welfare and sexual selection. Based at the University's Streatham campus, the Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour offers a vibrant and supportive environment for independent research fellows working on any aspect of animal behaviour. We are always keen to welcome new members. We have a strong track record of hosting fellowships funded though UK, EU and international schemes (including NERC, BBSRC, Royal Society, ERC, Leverhulme Trust, Marie Curie, NSF and others) and several previous fellows have gone on to become permanent members of academic staff in CRAB.

Fellowship applicants interested in joining us should contact our Group Leaders to discuss their proposed project. We also welcome enquiries from existing fellowship holders interested in relocating to CRAB. If possible, please include a full academic CV.

Support we can offer you

Pre-application

• Advice on scheme suitability and proposal writing from our many successful fellows and research support staff.
• Review of draft proposals.
• Assistance with interview preparation.

For fellows

• 1:1 mentoring from senior colleagues.
• Peer support from our Early Career Researcher network.
• Opportunities (but no obligation) to gain teaching experience and to supervise BSc, MSc, MRes and PhD project students.
• Training and personal development.
• Support for grant proposal development from senior colleagues and research support staff.

Career progression

• Clear criteria for progression to permanent positions.
• Opportunities for proleptic appointments.

Fellowship schemes

The following table lists the main UK and EU fellowship schemes. Some other countries have their own fellowship schemes that can provide support to work in CRAB (e.g. NSF in the USA); we are also very willing to provide support for these candidates.