Pull a thread and you’ll find it’s attached to the rest of the world
-Nadeem Aslam-
I have not changed much since I was a child. The thing I loved most was observing animals, and I still do.
Animal behaviour continues to fascinate me throughout my life. Why do birds flock? How do spiders build their webs? Why does my ferret never listen to me? At an age of about 12, I went on an expedition to find out which profession would allow me to study animals for a living. I quickly found my life calling: to be a biologist.
And now I am. Joehoe!
After a Bachelor and Master in Biology and a PhD in Behavioural Ecology, I now find myself to be what they call a “Postdoc”. Nobody really seems to know how exactly to define a Postdoc, but it mostly comes down to someone conducting academic research, after obtaining their doctorate degree, for which s/he may or may not get paid.
My daily life is filled with unravelling the mysteries of animal social behaviour. My studies target (but are not restricted to): geese, ducks, songbirds, cows, bats, fish and humans. I aim to understand the causes and consequences of social behaviour and for this I focus on concepts such as: animal personality, social networks, communication and migration.
Next to studying animal behaviour, I also like talking about it. Via popular science articles, blogs, vlogs, videos, interviews and so on I wish to inspire people with facts and stories about the amazing ways animals behave. In 2016, I was lucky enough to become a lecturer of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on animal behaviour, free to follow for everyone. As a female scientist I think it is also important to set an example for young girls all over the world. Science is not just a boy thing.
In the end, I hope my science and communication activities will contribute a little bit to the conservation of our wonderous planet and all the amazing creatures that inhabit it.
You can contact me by email. Try not to end up in my spam folder. Or to be spam.
