I study animal ecology to understand what drives individual flexibility and resilience to cope with environmental stressors and change. Within this, I am interested in how individuals manage uncertainty, risks and resources in foraging and predator-prey contexts. I have focused on free-ranging marine mammals, which as long-lived species in dynamic marine environments often rely on individual plasticity to respond to environmental change. 

For my PhD and postdoctoral research so far I’ve focused on how and why cetaceans respond to whale-watching and navy sonar, using bioacoustics and bio-logging as tools with a focus on quantitative methods. I run a project about killer whale predation of seals in Scotland, looking at the interaction both from the prey risk-taking and predator foraging point of views (ECOPredS website). 

Ultimately, I aim to translate my research into evidence for conservation practice. In the future, I hope to integrate a longer-term view on individual life histories (e.g., juvenile growth, survival) in my research to better answer the "so what" question of conservation behaviour and physiology. 

Read more about my work at my research-outreach website.