Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Doctoral Landscape Award
PROJECT TITLE: The call of the wild: solutions to record and understand wild animal behaviour.
Lead Supervisor: Professor Alex Thornton
Co-Supervisors:
Dr Kim Hockings: K.Hockings@exeter.ac.uk
The supervisory team will also include co-supervisors from computer science/engineering (tbc).
Webpage: https://experts.exeter.ac.uk/21964-alex-thornton
Project details: The behaviour of animals determines their responses to environmental change
and ultimately shapes whether populations persist or decline. Tools to record and analyse the
behaviour of individual animals under natural conditions are therefore vital not only for
fundamental research to understand why animals behave in the ways they do, but also for
applied work to address urgent challenges in animal conservation and welfare. However,
existing technologies have mostly been developed for use in controlled laboratory settings and
are often unsuitable for field conditions. For instance, cameras used to monitor the behaviour
of nesting birds typically require mains power or are too bulky to fit unobtrusively in nests
without disturbing the occupants. Thermal imaging is also emerging as a vital tool for non-
invasive monitoring of stress, but thermal cameras are typically expensive, bulky and power-
hungry. Similarly, animal-borne microphones can provide vital insights into patterns of vocal
communication and responses to anthropogenic disturbance, but are typically too heavy and
bulky for most species, and have very limited battery life. Moreover, not only do we lack suitable
hardware for data collection in the wild, but our ability to process and understand the resulting
data suffers from major constraints. Here, advances in AI will be crucial, for instance by
allowing us to recognise individuals on the basis of visual and vocal characteristics and
automate the large-scale quantification of behavioural and physiological responses.
The aim of this PhD is to combine the two primary supervisors’ expertise in behavioural field
biology with engineering and data science approaches to develop and test tools for behavioural
research and ecological monitoring. The Cornish Jackdaw Project – a long-term study
population of wild jackdaws run by Alex Thornton – provides the ideal setting to test and validate
methods before then applying them to field sites in even more remote locations such as Kim
Hockings’ study sites in West Africa. The project will provide the student with unique
experience, training and transferable skills in ecological research, engineering and data
science. Given the urgent need for robust, affordable tools to evaluate behavioural responses to
environmental change in animal populations around the world, we envision that there will be
ample scope to commercialise the outputs of the project.
Project specific entry requirements: Minimum 2.1 (or equivalent) degree in Zoology/Biology,
Engineering or Computer Science/Data Science.
Potential PhD programme of study: PhD in Biological Sciences
Lead Supervisor: Professor Alex Thornton
Co-Supervisors:
Dr Kim Hockings: K.Hockings@exeter.ac.uk
The supervisory team will also include co-supervisors from computer science/engineering (tbc).
Webpage: https://experts.exeter.ac.uk/21964-alex-thornton
Project details: The behaviour of animals determines their responses to environmental change
and ultimately shapes whether populations persist or decline. Tools to record and analyse the
behaviour of individual animals under natural conditions are therefore vital not only for
fundamental research to understand why animals behave in the ways they do, but also for
applied work to address urgent challenges in animal conservation and welfare. However,
existing technologies have mostly been developed for use in controlled laboratory settings and
are often unsuitable for field conditions. For instance, cameras used to monitor the behaviour
of nesting birds typically require mains power or are too bulky to fit unobtrusively in nests
without disturbing the occupants. Thermal imaging is also emerging as a vital tool for non-
invasive monitoring of stress, but thermal cameras are typically expensive, bulky and power-
hungry. Similarly, animal-borne microphones can provide vital insights into patterns of vocal
communication and responses to anthropogenic disturbance, but are typically too heavy and
bulky for most species, and have very limited battery life. Moreover, not only do we lack suitable
hardware for data collection in the wild, but our ability to process and understand the resulting
data suffers from major constraints. Here, advances in AI will be crucial, for instance by
allowing us to recognise individuals on the basis of visual and vocal characteristics and
automate the large-scale quantification of behavioural and physiological responses.
The aim of this PhD is to combine the two primary supervisors’ expertise in behavioural field
biology with engineering and data science approaches to develop and test tools for behavioural
research and ecological monitoring. The Cornish Jackdaw Project – a long-term study
population of wild jackdaws run by Alex Thornton – provides the ideal setting to test and validate
methods before then applying them to field sites in even more remote locations such as Kim
Hockings’ study sites in West Africa. The project will provide the student with unique
experience, training and transferable skills in ecological research, engineering and data
science. Given the urgent need for robust, affordable tools to evaluate behavioural responses to
environmental change in animal populations around the world, we envision that there will be
ample scope to commercialise the outputs of the project.
Project specific entry requirements: Minimum 2.1 (or equivalent) degree in Zoology/Biology,
Engineering or Computer Science/Data Science.
Potential PhD programme of study: PhD in Biological Sciences
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Doctoral Landscape Award
Department: Ecology and Conservation
Location: Penryn
Please direct project specific enquiries to: Alex Thornton: alex.thornton@exeter.ac.uk
Please ensure you read the entry requirements for the potential programme you are applying for.
To Apply for this project please click on the following link - APPLY HERE