Plenary Speaker Dr Rahia Mashoodh
Rahia completed her PhD in 2014 at Columbia University (NY, USA) in behavioural epigenetics under the supervision of Prof. Frances Champagne. She then undertook postdoctoral training (as a CIHR Postdoctoral Fellow) in genomics/epigenomics in the Department of Genetics at Cambridge University with Prof. Anne Ferguson-Smith. After this, she then took up an independent BBSRC Future Leaders fellowship in the Department of Zoology (also at Cambridge) where she was based until 2023, where she transitioned to UCL to take up an Excellence Fellowship in the Department of Genetics, Evolution & Environment.
Plenary Speaker Dr Jolle Jolles
Jolle Jolles is a recently appointed Senior Research Scientist (Investigador Cientifico) at the CSIC Centre for Advanced Studies Blanes (CEAB). After acquiring his PhD at the University of Cambridge (2016), he held positions in the UK, Germany, and Spain, including a von Humboldt Fellowship at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour, a Zukunftskolleg Fellowship at the University of Konstanz, a Severo Ochoa postdoctoral position at CREAF, and a Ramon y Cajal Fellowship at CEAB-CSIC. With a background in Behavioural Ecology and Experimental Biology, he is known for his work on individual heterogeneity and its consequences for the collective behaviour and functioning of animal groups. More recently he started to bridge out to the fields of Freshwater Ecology and Environmental Science to study the broader social and ecological consequences of behavioural variation, in particular in relation to environmental change. Jolles uses a strongly interdisciplinary approach and has recently established a dedicated laboratory for the experimental study of animals – including state-of-the-art approaches to monitor, track and analyse animal behaviour – as well as his own field site for monitoring fish populations and environmental change in intermittent streams. Jolles is also known for pushing novel mechanistic and technological approaches with his work and for being at the forefront of helping bring low-cost, open electronics to the Biological Sciences, including theoretical articles, organising workshops, and creating tutorial websites.
Student Plenary TBC
Chris Bernard Award Winner TBC