Dr Neeltje Boogert

About me:

Originally from the Netherlands (which explains my unpronounceable name!), I obtained my B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees at Utrecht University (2000-2005). For my M.Sc. thesis research I investigated scent mark communication in stingless bees in Costa Rica and the spread of foraging information through social networks in starlings. The latter work was conducted with Dr. Simon Reader (now at McGill) and Prof. Kevin Laland (University of St. Andrews). After graduating I moved from Scotland to Canada to do a Ph.D. with Prof. Louis Lefebvre at McGill University (2005-2010). There I started research on another form of social learning, namely vocal learning, in zebra finches (with Prof. Luc-Alain Giraldeau, UQAM) and song sparrows (with Dr. Rindy Anderson, Prof. Steve Nowicki (Duke University) and Prof. Bill Searcy (University of Miami)). I discovered that more complex singers are better problem solvers, but are not generally ‘smarter’ than the singers of simpler songs. In 2011 I moved back to St. Andrews to conduct further studies on starling social networks with Prof. Laland and Dr. Will Hoppitt. In 2012 I obtained a Rubicon fellowship from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) to study the effects of developmental stress on later social behaviour in quail and zebra finches with Dr. Karen Spencer (University of St. Andrews). In 2015 I was awarded a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship to study the developmental drivers of avian social network positions. I was briefly based at Oxford University’s Edward Grey Institute before moving the fellowship here.

Broad research specialisms

I am generally interested in the evolution and ecology of cognition and social behaviour. Thus far I have studied quite a diverse array of topics, ranging from insect communication to bird song learning and mate choice for cognitive traits, the existence of a "general cognitive ability", to social learning and the spread of information through animal groups. I am currently focussing on how developmental factors affect (social) information use, social network positions and proxies of fitness, using both wild and captive birds as my model systems. I am also investigating how group composition affects cognitive performance and fitness proxies in fish. I greatly enjoy collaborative research projects with colleagues at the University of Cambridge Zoology Department, the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology and the University of Oxford Edward Grey Institute, and am always open to new collaborations.

Interests:

One of my main research aims is to understand how early-life conditions shape later social behaviour and cognitive traits. Stress exposure early in life is often assumed to have inevitable negative consequences. However, individuals may have the phenotypic flexibility to change their behavioural strategies in an adaptive way. I am investigating whether and when this is the case, and what the fitness consequences might be across generations, in captive zebra finches. I also aim to take these questions into the wild and study how developmental conditions shape social behaviour in wild great tits in the Wytham Woods with Prof. Ben Sheldon and in wild jackdaws, as part of the Cornish jackdaw project with Dr. Alex Thornton.

Qualifications:

2011: Ph.D. Biology, McGill University, Canada
2005: M.Sc. Animal Behaviour, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
2003: B.Sc. Biology, Utrecht University, The Netherlands

Career:

2016 - current: Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellow, University of Exeter
2016: 8-month maternity leave
2015 – 2016: Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellow, University of Oxford
2012 – 2015: NWO Rubicon Research Fellow, University of St. Andrews
2013: 8-month maternity leave
2011 – 2012: Post-doctoral Research Associate, University of St. Andrews