Dr Lauren M Robinson

Currently, I’m a postdoctoral research fellow studying cooperation in bonobos, chimpanzees, and humans at the University of Michigan with Professor Richard Lewis.

I am an animal welfare scientist and psychologist. Basically, I try to find ways to assess and improve the lives of captive animals! I primarily work with zoo and sanctuary-housed animals, canids (mostly domestic dogs) and nonhuman primates but am open to projects on a variety of species.

One of the big things I'm interested in is how differences in animal personality are associated with animal welfare, happiness, and variations in cognitive performance. I do a lot of work on personality, both in relation to welfare and other topics. I have spent the past 5 years working on cognition studies with the goal of performing studies that incorporate multiple aspects of individuality.

I specialize in animal welfare science and animal behavior as well as comparative, cognitive, and personality psychology.

I am currently working as a postdoctoral research fellow in cognition.

Prior to that I completed the following degrees:

2017 - PhD in Psychology

            University of Edinburgh

2012 - MSc in Applied Animal Behaviour and Animal Welfare

            University of Edinburgh

2009 - BA in Psychology

            University of Washington