Dr Lauren M Robinson

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 view animals as individuals and look for ways that we can use this to improve their care and quality of life.

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

I have 3 years experience as a visiting assistant professor teaching courses on animal welfare, cognition, human-animal interactions, among other topics.

I spent 6 years as a postdoc for institutions including Disney’s Animal Kingdom as contracted through New College of Florida, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, and the University of Michigan.

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

2006 - Associates of Arts

Clark College 

Running Start student: Attended in place of last two years of high school