- BERG - University of Stirling Mailing Lists

This week's BERG (Wed 2 Nov): Sarah Davis from University of St Andrews

by Christine Caldwell

Dear all, I hope everyone had a good mid-semester week! BERG is back again this week, and we have a speaker coming over from St Andrews. Sarah Davis will be giving us a talk on the topic of "Behavioural flexibility and the foundations of cumulative culture". Sarah is currently in the final stages of her PhD under the supervision of Andrew Whiten, and she has been studying chimpanzees as a means to understand the evolution of human cumulative culture. We'll take Sarah out for some dinner after the meeting (probably in town in Stirling, close to the station, as she will be travelling by train). Please let me know if you would be interested in joining us! The most likely options are Rana's, Pizza Express, or Smiling Jacks. The BERG meeting will begin at 5.30pm as per usual in the Psychology Common Room (3A94). Hope to see you there! Christine.

8 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

FW: Matsuzawa's MOOC: Origins of the Human Mind, From Oct 27 to Dec 1st 2016, FREE, registration please

by Hannah Buchanan-Smith

This may be of interest to some…. Subject: Matsuzawa's MOOC. *MOOC: Massive Open Online Courses A free online course by Matsuzawa will be offered for five weeks, from October 27th to December 1st, via edX, which is one of MOOC providers. You can access its registration page from the link: https://www.edx.org/course/origins-human-mind-kyotoux-007x Anyone from all over the world can register for the course as a student, and learners can exchange their opinions and post questions on its Discussion Forum in English. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear my ex-students and close friends: I picked up 101 names. Please forward this announcement to your colleagues and students via e-mail, FACEBOOK, etc. I tried to do my best describing my parallel effort of studying chimpanzees in the wild and the laboratory. Thank you. and Have a nice day. Tetsuro Matsuzawa, Kyoto Please visit my site, http://matsuzawa.kyoto/

8 years, 10 months

1
0
0 0

Next week's BERG seminar

by Hannah Buchanan-Smith

Dear BERGers - cc Psychology staff and PhD students in case of interest As part of our Behaviour and Evolution Research Group (BERG) seminars, next Wednesday (19th October, 5.30pm ) we have Professor Vernon Gayle, University of Edinburgh giving a short presentation on: Reproducible Research is 'Show Me' not 'Trust Me' Psychology Common Room, 3A94, Cottrell building, with usual drinks and nibbles. I think this topic is really important to consider in terms of our research process and workflow. Hope to see some of you there. Best, Hannah Abstract Despite the explosion in the number of research publications it is impossible to 'reproduce' the results of most analyses that are published. This is because information on how the work is undertaken in seldom made available. Most researchers will have a happy, or possibly even a terrifying, early educational memory of being told to "show their working out". Somewhere between primary school and graduate school this requirement has evaporated. Currently published research is far from transparent and a culture of 'trust me' rather than a culture of 'show me' exists. In this presentation I make an appeal for researchers to routinely provide enough information so that others can check that results are accurate, and that correct inferences and conclusions are reported in published work. This transparency will also allow others to test the robustness of the original piece of research, for example by employing new or additional data and alternative methods. I highlight the obstacles that are commonly encountered and provide some practicable steps for rendering research 'reproducible'. I argue that conventional research publications should, at best, be regarded as a palimpsest of the 'real work' undertaken within the data analytical process. Drawing on insights from computer science and other disciplines that have been engaged in e-Research I illustrate how contemporary digital resources could provide a useful and effective aid to making social science research more easily reproducible. I propose a set of guidelines which researchers should follow in order to enhance the reproducibility of their research. I conclude by suggesting a set of benchmarks against which the reproducibility can be assessed. Hannah M. Buchanan-Smith Professor, Behaviour and Evolution Research Group (BERG) Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences University of Stirling Stirling, FK9 4LA Scotland Tel: 01786 467674 Fax: 01786 467641 E-mail: h.m.buchanan-smith(a)stir.ac.uk<mailto:h.m.buchanan-smith@stir.ac.uk> Home page: https://rms.stir.ac.uk/converis-stirling/person/11925 http://marmosetcare.com/ http://www.247animalwelfare.eu/index.html Just launched: http://refiningdogcare.com/ http://www.refiningdogcare.com/images/RDC%20Flyer.pdf

8 years, 10 months

1
0
0 0

Re: [BERG] Marmosets at BERG tonight

by Hayley Ash

Dear BERGers, Tonight, I'll be talking about 'The long term impact of infant rearing background on the affective state of common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus).' We'll be in the Psychology Common Room (3A94) from 5:30 pm, with drinks and nibbles. I've attached the schedule for this semester. Thank you to everyone who has signed up to do a talk so far! It would be great if you could also forward on a title for me to add. There are a few spaces left, if anyone would like to practice a presentation or lead a group discussion. http://doodle.com/poll/s6qagssqe6zfimgr? I hope to see you all later! All the best, Hayley

8 years, 10 months

1
3
0 0

Life Scientific: Frans de Waal

by Hannah Buchanan-Smith

BERG folk might be interested in Frans de Waal on Life Scientific: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07wt6bj "Charles Darwin first alerted us to our ape ancestry. Genome analysis tells us we share 99% of our DNA with our closest relatives in the animal kingdom, the chimpanzee and the bonobo. And yet we seem surprised to learn that apes are kind and clever, traits we tend to like to think of as being uniquely human. Behavioural biologist and best-selling author, Frans de Waal has spent many years in offices overlooking chimp colonies, observing their behaviour on a daily basis. He pioneered studies of kindness and peace-making in primates, when other scientists were focussing on violence, greed and aggression. Empathy, he argues, has a long evolutionary history; and he is determined to undermine our arrogant assumptions of human superiority. Frans talks to Jim Al-Khalili about growing up on the Dutch polders, chimpanzee politics, and the extraordinary sex lives of the bonobos."

8 years, 10 months

1
0
0 0

Life Scientific: Frans de Waal

by Peter Hancock

BERG folk might be interested in this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07wt6bj Peter

8 years, 10 months

1
0
0 0

FW: Call for papers: Measuring animal welfare and applying scientific advances - Why is it still so difficult? UFAW International Symposium 27-29th June 2017, UK

by Hannah Buchanan-Smith

This looks like a really interesting conference next year - with a request for a call for papers. From: Stephen Wickens [mailto:wickens@ufaw.org.uk] Sent: 13 September 2016 10:09 To: Hannah Buchanan-Smith <h.m.buchanan-smith(a)stir.ac.uk> Subject: Call for papers: Measuring animal welfare and applying scientific advances - Why is it still so difficult? UFAW International Symposium 27-29th June 2017, UK Dear UFAW LINK, We are seeking papers for our symposium in June 2017. I'd be grateful if you could share this call with your colleagues and students. Thanks. Steve ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Measuring animal welfare and applying scientific advances - Why is it still so difficult? Venue: Royal Holloway, University of London, Surrey, UK Dates: 27-29th June 2017 Background and Aims of the Symposium Animal welfare science is a relatively young field but it is developing rapidly. A recent review noted that over the last two decades the number of scientific publications in this area has increased by 10-15% annually. This research has been used to make many real improvements to the welfare of animals throughout the world. There seems to be a growing consensus that what matters to those animals that are presumed to experience feelings, and therefore what should matter most to those concerned about animal welfare, is how those animals feel. However, this raises difficult questions, some of which are fundamental to the development of animal welfare science as a rigorous scientific discipline and the assessment of animal welfare. For example: * Will we ever be able to demonstrate sentience? Knowing where to draw the line about which animals to care for is important to, avoid wasting scarce resources on animals that are not sentient, and to ensure that animals that are sentient are protected. Are there new techniques that could help or is the problem insoluble? Where should the line be drawn? * Are the techniques that we have to study emotional state (affect) adequate or are there new and better ways of assessing how animals feel about themselves and their environment? How should we best choose and interpret measures? Do technological advances offer us alternative approaches? Is it worth trying to put a numerical value on animal welfare or are qualitative measures more appropriate? * How does time fit into the equation? Over what period of time should welfare be considered - what is meaningful and relevant to the animal? Do animals experience time as we do? How should we weigh up the challenges and good experiences to come so as to arrive at a view about the animals lifetime experience, and is this worth doing? * How important is positive welfare? Should preventing suffering be our first priority or should we now be looking to maximise enjoyable experiences for animals in our care too? Is a permanent state of positive welfare possible, or do animals reset their emotional state so that attempts to achieve positive welfare are doomed to failure as the animal habituates to a better than adequate environment? What happens when those experiences preferred by an animal have a long-term negative impact on health? * How robust is the data collected on animal welfare? Are there lessons to be learnt from other areas of research with respect to e.g. blinding, randomization, pre-registration of hypotheses, null results, meta-analysis, clinical trials? With the aim of developing new ideas and of promoting higher quality and better-focused animal welfare science, this symposium will consider whether and how animal welfare scientists can make progress in these and other areas. Speakers will include: * Professor Georgia Mason (University of Guelph, Canada), 'Using welfare indicators to make valid inference about animals' subjective states, with a focus on HPA responses and stereotypic behaviour' * Professor Mike Mendl (University of Bristol, UK) 'Animal affect: What is it, what do we know, and what can we know?' and * Professor Jaak Panksepp (Washington State University, USA) 'The emotional feelings of other minds: From neuroaffective foundations to novel therapeutics (especially depressions)' Call for papers We would like to hear from anyone interested in making a contribution to the symposium on the subjects and themes detailed above or others relating to measuring animal welfare and to animal welfare and the sciences and other disciplines associated with it - eg applied ethology, veterinary, physiological and neuroscience. Submissions should feature the title of the proposed presentation, the nature of the presentation - talk or poster, and the name and full contact details of all contributors. Abstracts must be in English and should be no longer than 400 words. Full details on formatting these can be found on the UFAW website. Time allocated to talks at the meeting is likely to be in region of 20-25 minutes. The deadline for submission of abstracts is 30th November 2016. Further details on this meeting can be found here: http://www.ufaw.org.uk/ufaw-events/ufaw-events and updates on social media<http://www.facebook.com/ufaw.org.uk/>. Contact details: Stephen Wickens, Royal Holloway 2017 UFAW, The Old School, Brewhouse Hill, Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire, AL4 8AN, UK Tel: +44 (0) 1582 831818; Fax: +44 (0) 1582 831414 Website: www.ufaw.org.uk<http://www.ufaw.org.uk/>; Email: wickens(a)ufaw.org.uk<mailto:wickens@ufaw.org.uk> Follow us: Facebook: Universities Federation for Animal Welfare - UFAW<http://www.facebook.com/ufaw.org.uk> ; Twitter: @UFAW_1926<https://twitter.com/ufaw_1926> Other details: The Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW), the international animal welfare science society, is a UK registered scientific and educational charity that brings together the animal welfare science community, educators, veterinarians and all concerned about animal welfare worldwide in order to achieve advances in the well-being of farm, companion, laboratory and captive wild animals, and for those animals with which we interact in the wild. Registered Charity No 207996 (Registered in England) and Company Limited by Guarantee No 579991

8 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

BERG meetings

by Hannah Buchanan-Smith

Dear BERGers I am pleased to say that Hayley Ash will be organising the Behaviour and Evolution Research Group (BERG) seminars this coming semester. These seminars are held on Wednesdays at 5.30pm in 3A94. Meetings will start on Wednesday 14th September, so please add these Wednesday dates to your diaries, noting there will be no meeting on Wed 26th October as it is mid semester break, and we shall wind up early-mid December The first meeting is on Wednesday 14th September at 5.30pm in 3A94 (Psychology common room). We shall use this meeting for introductions, including I hope for our new students, and updates from the summer...please come prepared to share news of any grants awarded, papers published, exciting conferences attended etc. Hayley will circulate a Doodle poll to sign up. Presenting at BERG is an excellent way to practice talks, hone your presentation skills, get feedback on grant application ideas, lead a discussion of a controversial/interesting research paper etc. You can also suggest external speakers who we might invite (local speakers only please). If you have new students who might wish to be on the BERG mailing list, please send them this e-mail. To sign up to the BERG mailing list new folk must complete the form available here: http://lists.stir.ac.uk/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/berg You can also use this link to unsubscribe. We'll send round the Doodle poll later, but please add the dates to your dairy. We'd appreciate those who gave conference talks recently to take the early slots! Many thanks, Hannah and Hayley Hannah M. Buchanan-Smith Professor, Behaviour and Evolution Research Group (BERG) Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences University of Stirling Stirling, FK9 4LA Scotland Tel: 01786 467674 Fax: 01786 467641 E-mail: h.m.buchanan-smith(a)stir.ac.uk<mailto:h.m.buchanan-smith@stir.ac.uk> Home page: https://rms.stir.ac.uk/converis-stirling/person/11925 http://marmosetcare.com/ http://www.247animalwelfare.eu/index.html Just launched: http://refiningdogcare.com/

8 years, 11 months

2
2
0 0

RSPCA/UFAW rodent and rabbit welfare group meeting

by Laura Hall

Dear all, For the first time, the RSPCA/UFAW rodent and rabbit welfare group meeting will be held in Scotland this year, which some of you might be interested in attending. Please see the attached flyer from Penny Hawkins for more details. Kind regards Laura

9 years

1
0
0 0

FW: Reminder: Extra Monday Seminar- Natalie Pilakouta

by Phyllis Lee

-----Original Message----- From: Luc Bussiere Sent: 23 May 2016 08:30 Subject: Reminder: Extra Monday Seminar- Natalie Pilakouta Hi everyone, Just a quick reminder that we have an extra seminar today at noon in room 3A142 by Natalie Pilakouta from Edinburgh University (see below for details). Please come along if you can! Thanks, Luc > ** > > Next Monday, May 23 (noon in room 3A142), I am pleased to host Natalie Pilakouta (http://www.nataliepilakouta.com/) from the University of Edinburgh, who will deliver one last seminar for our spring series, titled "Maternal effects alter the magnitude of inbreeding depression in the offspring” (short abstract below). Natalie is a really engaging speaker, and her research features both fascinating questions (e.g., on the evolution of parental care & inbreeding) and charismatic creatures (who doesn’t love burying beetles?). > > I will take her for lunch after the seminar, and anyone is welcome to join us (let me know by Monday morning). She is also keen to meet with other Stirling academics during her visit — let me know if you want me to arrange a meeting. > > Thanks! > > Luc > > Maternal effects alter the magnitude of inbreeding depression in the offspring > > A maternal effect is a causal influence of the maternal phenotype on the offspring phenotype over and above any direct effects of genes that the offspring inherit from their mother. There is abundant evidence that maternal effects can have a major impact on offspring fitness. Yet, no previous study has investigated the potential role of maternal effects in influencing the severity of inbreeding depression in the offspring. Inbreeding depression is a reduction in the fitness of inbred offspring relative to outbred offspring. We tested whether maternal effects due to body size alter the magnitude of inbreeding depression in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides. We found that inbreeding depression was more severe for offspring of large females than offspring of small females. This might be due to differences in how small and large females invested in inbred broods because of their different prospects for future breeding opportunities. This work provides the first evidence for a causal effect of the maternal phenotype on the severity of inbreeding depression in the offspring. We propose that in natural populations that are subject to inbreeding, maternal effects may drive variation in the magnitude of inbreeding depression and consequently contribute to variation in the strength and direction of selection for inbreeding avoidance. -- Luc Bussière Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA United Kingdom Voice: +44 (0)1786 467758 Fax: +44 (0)1786 467843 Mobile: +44 (0)79 1384 9238 This is a Calm Inbox: email is checked once in the AM and once in the PM. Learn why at www.calmbox.me

9 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

18.05.16: Dr. Betsy Herrelko - Evidence-based animal management

by Eoin O'Sullivan

Dear BERGers, Tomorrow we will have our last meeting before the summer break with Dr. Betsy Herrelko returning to BERG to talk about: "Evidence-based animal management: Incorporating husbandry research into life at the zoo (aka: what Betsy's been up to in her post Stirling life) ". We will be going for dinner with Betsy after the meeting so if anyone is interested in joining us, please let me know before tomorrow. As usual, we will be having some drinks and nibbles in the psychology common room from 5:20pm. I look forward to seeing you all then! All the best, Eoin

9 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Fw: A message from Stevan Harnad about his new journal

by Eoin O'Sullivan

Dear all, Prof Peter Hancock kindly forward me this e-mail about a new BBS-style journal on the topic of animal sentience. I'm sure it will be of interest to a few on this list. All the best, Eoin From: em.bbs.0.4ac443.098bd961(a)editorialmanager.com [mailto:em.bbs.0.4ac443.098bd961@editorialmanager.com] On Behalf Of Behavioral and Brain Sciences Sent: 26 April 2016 07:37 To: Peter Hancock <p.j.b.hancock(a)stir.ac.uk> Subject: A message from Stevan Harnad about his new journal Dear BBS readers, Some of you may remember me. I founded BBS in 1978<http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/%7Eharnad/Temp/Kata/bbs.editorial.html> and was the editor till 2002<http://users.ecs.soton.ac.uk/harnad/Temp/bbs.valedict.html>. After those two busy decades I had not planned to edit a journal again! But when the Institute for Science and Policy of the Humane Society asked me whether I would agree to be the editor of a new open access journal on animal sentience, a topic I consider to be extremely important, both in cognitive science and in ethics, I immediately accepted, and also proposed to implement BBS-style Open Peer Commentary for the new journal. Animal Sentience<http://animalstudiesrepository.org/animsent/> (ASent) has now been launched and the current editors have kindly agreed to let me do one last BBS mailing to BBS Associates to ask: If you have interest or expertise in animal thinking, feeling or well-being, please contact me at harnad(a)uqam.ca<mailto:harnad@uqam.ca> so I can add you to my list of potential ASent Commentators (the embryonic counterpart of the BBS Associate list that I started almost 40 years ago!). Needless to say, if you have a potential target article on animal sentience on which you wish to invite Open Peer Commentary in ASent, you are invited to prepare one. ASent can also consider previously published papers that are particularly appropriate for Commentary if they are revised and updated for re-publication in ASent. If you look at the journal website<http://animalstudiesrepository.org/animsent/> you will see that Open Peer Commentary in ASent is much like in BBS, except that ASent Commentaries and Responses appear serially, as they are received, reviewed and accepted, rather than all in one batch. The author also has the choice of responding one-on-one or in a batch, and the Commentary can continue for as long as there is still something to say. My own inaugural editorial<http://animalstudiesrepository.org/animsent/vol1/iss1/1/> describes the mission and remit of ASent (and Open Peer Commentary is invited on the editorial as well!) With best wishes, Stevan Harnad Editor, Animal Sentience<http://animalstudiesrepository.org/animsent/editorialboard.html> Professor of Psychology, Université du Québec à Montréal<http://crcsc.uqam.ca> Professor of Web Science, University of Southampton<http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/people/harnad>

9 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

No BERG meetings until May

by Eoin O'Sullivan

Dear BERGers, With teaching finished, we have come to the end of our normal schedule of BERG meetings for the Spring semester. However, while there are no meetings over the next few weeks we will have a couple of extra talks in May (I will circulate more information nearer the dates). All the best, Eoin

9 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

Wed special BERG seminar

by Phyllis Lee

Chaos and cohesion: social disruption and leadership loss in African elephant families. Vicki Fishlock 5:30 in the Psychology seminar room (as usual) Phyllis C. Lee Professor of Psychology Behaviour and Evolution Research Group School of Natural Sciences University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA UK Direct line +44 (0)1786 467656 Mobile +44 (0)7802 427132

9 years, 4 months

2
1
0 0

Replication Crisis Discussion: Follow-up

by Eoin O'Sullivan

Hi all, Just writing to follow-up on yesterday's discussion of the replication crises. I know that a few of you expressed interest in this topic but were unable to attend, so I thought it might be worth mentioning a few interesting points/resources. First of all, thanks to all who attended- it was really great to hear your thoughts on this! We all agreed that the Spellman paper (circulated on Tuesday) was a highly readable and reasonably comprehensive summary of the issues and potential solutions (so, well worth a read). Liz Renner brought our attention to some reproducibility issues within the field of oxytocin research. Interestingly, these problems were identified when a research group decided to critical?ly examine their own published work and open their file drawer. Some links here: http://www.vox.com/2016/4/4/11348288/oxytocin-love-hormone http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jne.12384/abstract?campaign=wola… Becky Sharman discussed her own efforts to replicate a curious perceptual effect and she has successfully published these findings in the Royal Society's new OA journal (link here: http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/2/12/150418.abstract).<http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/2/12/150418.abstract> Becky has kindly provided a lay summary of this work for those interested (see postscript). So, thanks again to all for such an interesting discussion! Next week we have Dr. Vicky Fishlock talking to us about her work at Amboseli National Park. It is going to be great! All the best, Eoin ? PS: Lay- summary of Mather & Sharman (2015) The implied motion after effect occurs when adapting to still images of motion e.g. someone running causes the same kind of after-effect as looking at actual moving stimuli. We showed that this effect is only present when participants are asked to make a directional judgement (i.e. are the dots moving left or right), but isn't present when they are asked to make a non-directional judgement (i.e. is the top or bottom half of the stimulus moving). The stimuli were exactly the same, only the instructions and the subsequent results were different.

9 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

Fwd: UFAW newsletter Spring 2016

by Hannah Buchanan-Smith

Please find attached the UFAW newsletter (UFAW kindly fund our BERG seminars) and note the "save the date" for next year's UFAW conference (27-29 June, 2017). From: "Stephen Wickens" <wickens(a)ufaw.org.uk<mailto:wickens@ufaw.org.uk>> To: "Hannah Buchanan-Smith" <h.m.buchanan-smith(a)stir.ac.uk<mailto:h.m.buchanan-smith@stir.ac.uk>> Subject: UFAW newsletter Spring 2016 Dear Hannah, Please find attached the latest UFAW newsletter. We'd be grateful if you could share it with interested collegues and students. Please be aware that the UFAW 2016 meeting at York is now fully booked (our maximum number is 180). For those who still hope to attend we are running a waiting list but there are a number on this list now so the chances of all getting a place are remote. Our 2017 meeting venue can hold upto 400 so we don't foresee this issue next year and hope that you might consider attending. It's already attracting a lot of interest. Kind regards, Steve -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr Stephen Wickens Universities Federation for Animal Welfare The Old School, Brewhouse Hill, Wheathampstead, Herts AL4 8AN, UK Email: wickens(a)ufaw.org.uk<mailto:wickens@ufaw.org.uk> Direct Tel: +44(0)1276 500880; Office: +44(0)1582 831818 (tel), 831414 (fax) MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "c:" claiming to be www.ufaw.org.uk<C:\Users\Steve\AppData\Local\Temp\~ed_sb_3\www.ufaw.org.uk> Save the date: "Measuring animal welfare and applying scientific advances - Why is it still so difficult?" UFAW International Symposium 27-29th June 2017, Royal Holloway, University of London, Surrey, UK. Facebook: Universities Federation for Animal Welfare - UFAW<http://www.facebook.com/ufaw.org.uk> ; Twitter: @UFAW_1926<https://twitter.com/ufaw_1926> The Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW) is an UK charity that works to develop and promote improvements in the welfare of all animals through scientific and educational activity worldwide. Registered Charity No 207996 (Registered in England) and Company Limited by Guarantee No 579991

9 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

6th April- Replication Crisis Discussion

by Eoin O'Sullivan

Dear BERGers, We don't have a speaker scheduled this week so we have a nice opportunity to discuss a topic Louise Heron touched upon in her discussion of the "watching eyes effect" last week. As many of you know, there is currently a lot of discussion in the field of psychology (and other scientific fields) about the reliability of supposedly well established psychological phenomena. Much of the debate has focussed on the field of social psychology, but the practices thought to contribute to this "replication crisis" seem to be equally common in many areas of animal research/evolutionary psychology/etc (e.g. underpowered studies, file drawer problem, overreliance on null hypothesis testing, etc.). With this in mind, it might be interesting to discuss some of these factors from the perspective of our own fields. If you would like some more information on this topic here is a short news article which provides plenty of links to other resources: http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/03/psychologys-replication-… I have also attached a recent article (Spellman, 2015), and see below for a few questions we might talk around: 1. Could your field face a "replication crisis"? 2. What are the hurdles preventing reliable research and what can we do to overcome them? 3. Is there an important finding in your field that you have found difficult to replicate? Have you published it? If not- why? 4. If you were to organise a "Reproducibility Project" what studies/effects should be considered (https://osf.io/ezcuj/wiki/home/)? As usual, we will be meeting from 5:20pm in the psychology common room. I look forward to seeing you there! All the best, Eoin

9 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

30th March- Louise Heron discusses the watching eyes effect

by Eoin O'Sullivan

Dear BERGers, This week we have Stirling PhD student Louise Heron presenting a talk entitled: 'Casting a critical eye on the "watching eyes effect": A discussion and exploration into the robustness of the watching eyes phenomenon' As usual, we will be meeting in the psychology common room from 5:20 pm. I look forward to seeing you then. Eoin

9 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

23rd March- Undergraduate Research Projects at Blair Drummond Safari Park

by Eoin O'Sullivan

Dear all, This week our BERG meeting is of particular interest to 3rd year undergraduate students who are thinking about doing a dissertation project on animal behaviour next semester. Blair Drummond's Research Coordinator, Alasdair Gillies, will be speaking to us about dissertation projects that will be available at the Safari Park. We will be meeting from 5.20 in the Psychology Common Room, and I look forward to seeing you there! Also, there have been a few changes to this semester's schedule, so please find an updated outline attached. We now have a free slot on Wednesday, April 6th, so if anyone would like to present on this date please let me know. All the best, Eoin

9 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

16th March- Caroline Allen

by Eoin O'Sullivan

Dear all, Our scheduled speaker, Dr. Emily Reed Burdett, cannot make our meeting this week (but we are hoping to reschedule her for another week- watch this space!); however, we are very pleased to have Stirling's Dr. Caroline Allen presenting a talk entitled: "Preparation for fatherhood: Investigating the role of olfactory communication during pregnancy. " As usual, we will be meeting in the Psychology Common Room from 5:15pm. I look forward to seeing you then! Eoin PS If you want to present a talk/poster at the Scottish Conference on Animal Behaviour please submit a title to s.m.daoudi1(a)stir.ac.uk by Friday (18th March). More details here: https://scab2016.wordpress.com/?

9 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

FW: One-Year Internships at Chester Zoo

by Hannah Buchanan-Smith

In case of interest to some – noting that these are voluntary positions, but former students who have done them have gone on into successful zoo careers. From: Liz Ball [mailto:l.ball@chesterzoo.org] Sent: 14 March 2016 10:35 Subject: One-Year Internships at Chester Zoo Dear Colleagues Please find attached the advertisement for our One-Year Internships in Animal Husbandry commencing on Monday 12 September 2016 at the North of England Zoological Society (Chester Zoo). Also attached are the advertisement and application form for our One-year Internships in Botany & Horticulture. These Internships offer students the opportunity to gain both practical experience working alongside trained Zoo keepers/Horticulturists & Botanists within a unique scientific/conservation environment, and also a series of theoretical workshops covering a wide range of zoo management issues. It is important to note that despite the duration of these Internships, they are entirely voluntary, so students must have organised financial provision prior to undertaking this year. I would be grateful if you would make the attached application form available to all relevant students. Many thanks. Best wishes. Liz Liz Ball Registrar's Assistant and Records Coordinator +44(0)1244 389753 www.chesterzoo.org<http://www.chesterzoo.org> [Chester Zoo]<http://www.chesterzoo.org/global/sig-redirect> Cedar House, Caughall Road, Upton by Chester, Chester CH2 1LH 01244 380280. Chester Zoo is a registered conservation and education charity. Our charity number is 306077. [http://www.chesterzoo.org/~/media/images/email-footers/social-icons/faceboo…]<https://www.facebook.com/chesterzoo1> [http://www.chesterzoo.org/~/media/images/email-footers/social-icons/gplus.g…]<%20https:/plus.google.com/+chesterzoo> [http://www.chesterzoo.org/~/media/images/email-footers/social-icons/twitter…]<https://twitter.com/chesterzoo> [http://www.chesterzoo.org/~/media/images/email-footers/social-icons/youtube…]<https://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialChesterZoo> [http://www.chesterzoo.org/~/media/images/email-footers/social-icons/flickr.…]<http://www.flickr.com/photos/chesterzoo> [http://www.chesterzoo.org/~/media/images/email-footers/social-icons/instagr…]<https://instagram.com/chesterzoo/> ________________________________ This electronic message contains information which may be privileged or confidential. The information is intended to be for the use of the individual(s) or entity named above. If you are not the intended recipient be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of the contents of this information is prohibited. If you have received this electronic message in error, please notify us by telephone or e-mail immediately and delete it from your system. Activity and use of our e-mail system is monitored to secure its effective operation and for other lawful business purposes. Communications using this system will also be monitored and may be recorded to secure effective operation and for other lawful business purposes. Internet e-mails are not necessarily secure. We do not accept responsibility for changes made to this message after it was sent. You are advised to scan this message for viruses and we cannot accept liability for any loss or damage which may be caused as a result of any computer virus. For information about how we process data and monitor communications please see our privacy policy and for terms of use please see our terms of use policy. The North of England Zoological Society, a private company limited by guarantee in England and Wales, with company number: 00287902, registered office: Cedar House, Zoological Gardens, Caughall Road, Upton-by-Chester, Chester, CH2 1LH, registered charity number: 306077. ________________________________

9 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

Re: [BERG] BERG- conferences

by Phyllis Lee

SCAB will be 2 April - all welcome (£20 for the day). Posters and presentations welcome... Please register with Sophia! P Phyllis C. Lee Professor of Psychology Behaviour and Evolution Research Group School of Natural Sciences University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA UK Direct line +44 (0)1786 467656 Mobile +44 (0)7802 427132 SCAB: Details of the Scottish Conference for Animal Behaviour will be circulated when a date has been set, but this will be held in Stirling this year. This conference is student focussed and is a great place to get feedback on projects that are ongoing, in planning stages, etc. ISHE: The biannual conference of the International Society for Human Ethology is also in Stirling this August. We will announce deadlines for abstract submissions when these are known but keep an eye on this website for more information: http://ishe.org/conferences-and-summer-institutes/ ESC: The European Student Conference on Behaviour and Cognition is in St. Andrews this March (17th-18th). More information can be found here (https://esc2016standrews.wordpress.com/); deadline for abstracts for student talks is the 1st of February. EHBEA: The annual conference of the European Human Behaviour and Evolution Association is in London from 5th-8th April. The deadline for abstract submissions has passed, but they provide student travel bursaries even if not presenting; website here: http://ehbea.com/conference2016/ ASAB: The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour is having their Easter meeting at Aberystwth University, 30th March- 1st April. This conference is aimed at postgraduates and post-docs, so a great opportunity for early career researchers to present their work. Abstract deadline is March 9th: http://www.aber.ac.uk/en/ibers/events/asab2016/ PSGB: The Primate Society of Great Britain is also hosting their Easter meeting at the end of March in York. More information here: http://www.psgb.org/meetings.php UFAW: Hannah has already circulated information on the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare conference in June, but here is a reminder: http://www.ufaw.org.uk/ufaw-events/recent-advances-v I hope that some of this will be helpful. All the best, Eoin

9 years, 5 months

2
1
0 0

BERG social media

by Hannah Buchanan-Smith

Dear BERGers Never thought I'd say this, but looking at the BERG Facebook page, and hearing recent reports and photos from the SPRG meeting at the Burn, I am sad to be in California missing out on so much amazing stuff back home! https://www.facebook.com/Behaviour-and-Evolution-Research-Group-at-Universi… Laura Hall (laura.hall(a)stir.ac.uk<mailto:laura.hall@stir.ac.uk>) and Eoin O'Sullivan (eoin.osullivan(a)stir.ac.uk<mailto:eoin.osullivan@stir.ac.uk> ) post to our BERG Facebook page - so please check it out, and when you get a paper published, win a prize, give a talk, or have anything else worth sharing, please send an e-mail to request that Laura or Eoin add a post. [https://ac3d197e9505f18c50e0-32b9f49f48b2c22be12b40ee79e2acc4.ssl.cf1.rackc…] We also have BERG Twitter: https://twitter.com/BERG_Stirling Hope you are all going well! Many thanks, Hannah Hannah M. Buchanan-Smith Professor, Behaviour and Evolution Research Group (BERG) Psychology, School of Natural Sciences University of Stirling Stirling, FK9 4LA Scotland Tel: 01786 467674 Fax: 01786 467641 E-mail: h.m.buchanan-smith(a)stir.ac.uk<mailto:h.m.buchanan-smith@stir.ac.uk> Home page: https://rms.stir.ac.uk/converis-stirling/person/11925 http://marmosetcare.com/ http://www.247animalwelfare.eu/index.html

9 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

BERG meeting- Wed 9th March

by Eoin O'Sullivan

Dear all, Tomorrow we have BERG's own Sophia Daoudi talking to us about: "Enclosure use by two mixed-species groups of monkeys at Living Links, Edinburgh Zoo". I look forward to seeing you in the psychology common room from 5:20pm as usual. Eoin

9 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

Fundraising Live Music Show (next friday)

by Suzanne Ruby

9 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

2025

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

BERG