BERG

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968 discussions

by Clare Andrews

Hi BERG, An upcoming talk organised outside of Psychology that may interest many of you: On Thursday March 28 at 3:15 pm in room C.2A54 in the Cottrell building Heather Browning (Southampton) will give a talk entitled "How do we set thresholds for animal welfare?" Abstract copied below. Recommendations for animal welfare often rely on reference to different welfare thresholds. While some welfare science simply aims at the comparative goal of welfare improvements (i.e. increasing the level of welfare from its previous baseline), other applications aim at the more absolute goals of achieving good welfare, or creation of a life worth living. The latter cases involve a normative element in judging where the relevant thresholds lie. Here I discuss some of the commonly used thresholds and outline some principled ways of setting their levels. Also hybrid via Zoom: https://stir-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/99810780456?pwd=ejBRMStXUjlCQkJ5V0p1bXMwY1M4dz… Best wishes, Clare __________________________________________________________ Students: book to talk with me here<https://outlook.office365.com/owa/calendar/PsychologyY1PersonalTuteesTutorD…>. Dr Clare Andrews (preferred pronouns: she/her) MA MSc DPhil FHEA Lecturer in Psychology, Course Director for MSc/MA Human-Animal Interaction<https://www.stir.ac.uk/courses/pg-taught/human-animal-interaction/> Psychology Division University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA ResearchGate<https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Clare_Andrews> X (twitter)<https://twitter.com/clarepandrews?lang=en> LinkedIn<https://www.linkedin.com/in/clareandrews/> [First Aider for Mental Health logo] I aim to read and respond to email within 3 working days, but during busy periods my response may take longer. I check my emails at varying times of day and I do not expect an immediate response from my correspondents. [signature_536851477] [Facebook icon]<https://www.facebook.com/universityofstirling/> [Twitter icon] <https://twitter.com/StirUni> [LinkedIn icon] <https://www.linkedin.com/edu/university-of-stirling-12676> [Instagram icon] <https://www.instagram.com/universityofstirling/> [Youtbue icon] <https://www.youtube.com/user/UniversityOfStirling> [Banner]<https://www.stir.ac.uk/> ________________________________ Scotland's University for Sporting Excellence The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159

1 year, 1 month

Have a spare 5 minutes?

by Hannah Buchanan-Smith

Please consider nominating someone for the University of Stirling Research Culture Awards 2024<https://uoscomms.newsweaver.com/universityofstirling.1ubors542y/w0yvqu1bzi4…> The flagship Research Culture Awards are now open for nominations. Now in its 5th year, the Research Culture Awards are a way to recognise and encourage collaborative and supportive behaviour by celebrating staff members who demonstrate good role modelling across the career spectrum; increase visibility of efforts and place value in often-hidden contributions; and to create a shared understanding of what we value at Stirling. Nominations can be made across eight categories this year and are open from Wednesday, 13 March until Wednesday, 10 April 2024. Nominate a colleague now <https://uoscomms.newsweaver.com/universityofstirling.1ubors542y/96ht9xzn840…> and let them know you value them and why. Nominations can be made across eight categories this year: * Outstanding Research Leadership * Outstanding Collaborator * Outstanding partnership with Professional Services * Outstanding Mentor * Outstanding Early Career Researcher * Outstanding Activity dedicated to enhancing Research Culture * Outstanding research activity dedicated to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion * Outstanding activity to support Research Impact (New) https://uoscomms.newsweaver.com/universityofstirling.1ubors542y/w0yvqu1bzi4… Hannah M. Buchanan-Smith Professor, Behaviour and Evolution Research Group (BERG) Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences University of Stirling Stirling, FK9 4LA Scotland E-mail: h.m.buchanan-smith(a)stir.ac.uk<http://h.m.buchanan-smith@stir.ac.uk/> Home page<https://www.stir.ac.uk/people/257464> Marmoset care<https://www.marmosetcare.stir.ac.uk/> Animal Welfare 24/7 across the lifespan<https://www.animalconcepts.eu/247approachtopromotingoptimalwelfareforcaptiv…> Welfare of dogs <https://nc3rs.org.uk/housing-and-husbandry-dogs> ________________________________ Scotland's University for Sporting Excellence The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159

1 year, 1 month

BERG seminar today

by Pawel Fedurek

Dear BERGers, A kind reminder that Kirsten Blakey (University of Stirling) is giving a seminar today (16:00, common room/hybrid) entitled "Assessing capacities for reflective belief revision in 2-year-olds, dogs, and pigs". Please see the abstract below. Abstract Some philosophers argue that reflection, the ability to assess one’s reasons for beliefs and actions, is the defining feature of rational thinking. However, they also tie reflective thinking to linguistic abilities, excluding human infants and non-human animals. To assess capacities for basic reflective thinking, without linguistic requirements, we investigated whether 2-year-old children, dogs, or pigs could identify information coming from an unreliable informant as misleading. In an object-search task, one informant’s actions reliably indicated the location of a reward, while another informants actions were unreliable, indicating the reward location in 50% of trials. The informants used three different actions to hide rewards to put subjects in the position to make generalisations about the reliability of the evidence provided by each informant. Neither 2-year-olds nor animals responded differently to the reliable and unreliable informants. However, while children became less likely to follow the indications of either informant in later trials, animals continued to follow both at a similar rate. This could suggest that children were responding differently to the evidence in the task compared to the dogs and pigs. MSTeams link: https://teams.microsoft.com/dl/launcher/launcher.html?url=%2F_%23%2Fl%2Fmee… Spring Semester speakers: Date Time Speaker Format 13/03/2024 16:00 Kirsten Blakey (Stirling) Talk F2F/hybrid 20/03/2024 16:00 Impact research catch up F2F 27/03/2024 16:00 Sylvain Lamoine (Cambridge) Online 03/04/2024 16:00 Review of BERG research strategy (core BERG) F2F 10/04/2024 16:00 17/04/2024 16:00 Victor Shirimizu (Strathclyde) F2F (Room 4B96) 24/04/2024 16:00 Lifespan Equipment Demonstration 01/05/2024 16:00 Victoria Lee (SRUC) F2F/hybrid 08/05/2024 10:00 James Brooks (Kyoto) Online 15/05/2024 22/05/2024 16:00 Elodie Freymann online Dr Pawel Fedurek (he/his) Lecturer in Psychology Behaviour and Evolution Research Group (BERG) Division of Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences University of Stirling Stirling, FK9 4LA Scotland, UK Tel: +44 (0)1786 467844 Twitter: @fedurekp<https://twitter.com/fedurekp> @<https://twitter.com/BERG_Stirling>BERG<https://twitter.com/BERG_Stirling>_Stirling<https://twitter.com/BERG_Stirling> Staff page<https://www.stir.ac.uk/people/1080868> | BERG<https://www.stir.ac.uk/about/faculties/natural-sciences/our-research/resear…> page<https://www.stir.ac.uk/about/faculties/natural-sciences/our-research/resear…> I aim to reply within 3 working days (my working days are between Monday and Friday). ________________________________ Scotland’s University for Sporting Excellence The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159

1 year, 1 month

BERG seminar this Wednesday

by Pawel Fedurek

Dear BERGers, This is a reminder that Kirsten Blakey (University of Stirling) will be giving a seminar this Wednesday (16:00, common room/hybrid) entitled "Assessing capacities for reflective belief revision in 2-year-olds, dogs, and pigs". Please see the abstract below. Abstract Some philosophers argue that reflection, the ability to assess one’s reasons for beliefs and actions, is the defining feature of rational thinking. However, they also tie reflective thinking to linguistic abilities, excluding human infants and non-human animals. To assess capacities for basic reflective thinking, without linguistic requirements, we investigated whether 2-year-old children, dogs, or pigs could identify information coming from an unreliable informant as misleading. In an object-search task, one informant’s actions reliably indicated the location of a reward, while another informants actions were unreliable, indicating the reward location in 50% of trials. The informants used three different actions to hide rewards to put subjects in the position to make generalisations about the reliability of the evidence provided by each informant. Neither 2-year-olds nor animals responded differently to the reliable and unreliable informants. However, while children became less likely to follow the indications of either informant in later trials, animals continued to follow both at a similar rate. This could suggest that children were responding differently to the evidence in the task compared to the dogs and pigs. MSTeams link: https://teams.microsoft.com/dl/launcher/launcher.html?url=%2F_%23%2Fl%2Fmee… Spring Semester speakers: Date Time Speaker Format 13/03/2024 16:00 Kirsten Blakey (Stirling) Talk F2F/hybrid 20/03/2024 16:00 Impact research catch up F2F 27/03/2024 16:00 Sylvain Lamoine (Cambridge) Online 03/04/2024 16:00 Review of BERG research strategy (core BERG) F2F 10/04/2024 16:00 17/04/2024 16:00 Victor Shirimizu (Strathclyde) F2F (Room 4B96) 24/04/2024 16:00 Lifespan Equipment Demonstration 01/05/2024 16:00 Victoria Lee (SRUC) F2F/hybrid 08/05/2024 10:00 James Brooks (Kyoto) Online 15/05/2024 22/05/2024 16:00 Elodie Freymann online Dr Pawel Fedurek (he/his) Lecturer in Psychology Behaviour and Evolution Research Group (BERG) Division of Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences University of Stirling Stirling, FK9 4LA Scotland, UK Tel: +44 (0)1786 467844<tel:+441786467844> Twitter: @fedurekp<https://twitter.com/fedurekp> @BERG_Stirling<https://twitter.com/BERG_Stirling> Staff page<https://www.stir.ac.uk/people/1080868> | BERG page<https://www.stir.ac.uk/about/faculties/natural-sciences/our-research/resear…> I aim to reply within 3 working days (my working days are between Monday and Friday). ________________________________ Scotland’s University for Sporting Excellence The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159

1 year, 1 month

Fw: PhD Position in Developmental Psychology at York St John - Deadline 22nd March

by Alejandro Sanchez Amaro

FYI see below Best, Alex ________________________________ From: Shona Duguid <s.duguid(a)yorksj.ac.uk> Sent: Monday, February 26, 2024 10:46 AM Cc: Emma Tecwyn <e.tecwyn(a)yorksj.ac.uk> Subject: PhD Position in Developmental Psychology at York St John - Deadline 22nd March You don't often get email from s.duguid(a)yorksj.ac.uk. Learn why this is important<https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentification> CAUTION: This email originated from outside University of Stirling. Do not follow links or open attachments if you doubt the authenticity of the sender or the content. ________________________________ Dear Colleague, Emma Tecwyn and I are looking for a PhD student to join our growing and friendly developmental research group<https://www.yorksj.ac.uk/research/child-development/> at York St John University. The project will look at how young children use communication for cooperative problem-solving but there is lots of room for students to develop their own ideas within the subject area. This includes opportunities for a comparative component of the project so it would be ideal for masters students or strong final year undergraduates who have some experience of experimental research with either children or animals. The position starts in September 2024 and is competition funded through a 4-year Academic Associate position, so it does come with teaching responsibilities in the department. We would be really grateful if you could pass this opportunity on to prospective students and encourage them to get in touch with us directly for more details about the project and the application process (the deadline for which is 22nd March). Advert link:https://jobs.yorksj.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx?ref=021-24 Please get in touch if you have any questions and thanks for your help, Shona Dr Shona Duguid (she/her) Lecturer in Psychology Office HG 201 York St John University, Lord Mayor’s Walk, York, YO31 7EX [cid:de9e18d8-f129-4ad6-8e6b-61718b8482de]<https://outlook.office.com/bookwithme/user/c8ce28cdc5324087bf6b389b185c7975…> Book time to meet with me<https://outlook.office.com/bookwithme/user/c8ce28cdc5324087bf6b389b185c7975…> ________________________________ Scotland’s University for Sporting Excellence The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159

1 year, 1 month

Fw: International Animal-Computer Interaction Conference (Glasgow, 2-5 December 2024)

by Pawel Fedurek

Dear BERGers, Some of you might be interested - please see Ilyena's email below. Sounds like a great event. Best wishes, Pawel ------------------------------- Dr Pawel Fedurek (he/his) Lecturer in Psychology Behaviour and Evolution Research Group (BERG) Division of Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences University of Stirling Stirling, FK9 4LA Scotland, UK Tel: +44 (0)1786 467844<tel:+441786467844> Twitter: @fedurekp<https://twitter.com/fedurekp> @BERG_Stirling<https://twitter.com/BERG_Stirling> Staff page<https://www.stir.ac.uk/people/1080868> | BERG page<https://www.stir.ac.uk/about/faculties/natural-sciences/our-research/resear…> I aim to reply within 3 working days (my working days are between Monday and Friday). ________________________________ From: Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas <Ilyena.Hirskyj-Douglas(a)glasgow.ac.uk> Sent: 27 February 2024 17:30 To: Pawel Fedurek <pawel.fedurek(a)stir.ac.uk> Subject: Re: [BERG] PhD opportunity on non-human primates Hi Pawel, I hope you are doing well. I am hosting the International Animal-Computer Interaction Conference (https://www.aciconf.org/) at Glasgow University this year on 2nd-5th December. The ACI Conference focuses on animals using technologies, and I thought it might apply to some people in BERG who use computer technologies with various animals. The ACI Conference is an interdisciplinary conference, and the papers are peer-reviewed and published in affiliation with the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). The deadline for papers is the 31st of May, but we also have workshops, emerging work, and a doctoral consortium (normally with a $1000 prize). Many international people will be attending, and the topics typically cover various aspects of technology and animals, from machine learning to how to design technologies, the ethics and how to involve animals within studies, the use of technologies in zoos/homes, etc. If anyone would like more information, they can reach out to me. Cheers, Ilyena ________________________________ ________________________________ Scotland’s University for Sporting Excellence The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159

1 year, 1 month

PhD opportunity on non-human primates

by Pawel Fedurek

Dear All, Some of you might be interested (attached). Best wishes, Pawel ------------------------------- Dr Pawel Fedurek (he/his) Lecturer in Psychology Behaviour and Evolution Research Group (BERG) Division of Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences University of Stirling Stirling, FK9 4LA Scotland, UK Tel: +44 (0)1786 467844<tel:+441786467844> Twitter: @fedurekp<https://twitter.com/fedurekp> @BERG_Stirling<https://twitter.com/BERG_Stirling> Staff page<https://www.stir.ac.uk/people/1080868> | BERG page<https://www.stir.ac.uk/about/faculties/natural-sciences/our-research/resear…> I aim to reply within 3 working days (my working days are between Monday and Friday). ________________________________ Scotland’s University for Sporting Excellence The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159

1 year, 1 month

BERG seminar this Wednesday (4pm, common room)

by Pawel Fedurek

Dear BERGers, Just a quick reminder that Bill Phillips (University of Stirling) will be giving a seminar this Wednesday entitled "Notions of Nature and Our Place in it" (abstract below). The seminar will be delivered in person in the common room. Abstract: Philosophical, religious, and scientific notions of ancient Greek philosophers, through Erasmus and Charles Darwin and T. H. Huxley, until now will be broadly sketched to raise the following questions for discussion: Is there progressive evolution of intellect and morality? Is morality subjective and relative, or objective and absolute, or a bit of both? Is life essentially selfish, at all or any level of organisation from genes to human societies? In what sense are we free to choose what we think and do? How should science and moral beliefs be related to government? Open-minded discussion is hoped for, but unanimity is not expected. MSTeams link: https://teams.microsoft.com/dl/launcher/launcher.html?url=%2F_%23%2Fl%2Fmee… Spring Semester speakers: Date Time Speaker Format 28/02/2024 16:00 Bill Phillips (Stirling) Talk F2F/hybrid 06/03/2024 No meeting (reading week) 13/03/2024 16:00 Kirsten Blakey (Stirling) Talk F2F/hybrid 20/03/2024 16:00 Impact research catch up F2F 27/03/2024 16:00 Sylvain Lamoine (Cambridge) Online 03/04/2024 16:00 Review of BERG research strategy (core BERG) F2F 10/04/2024 16:00 Matti Wilks (Edinburgh; TENTATIVE will confirm in Jan) F2F 17/04/2024 16:00 Victor Shirimizu (Strathlyde) F2F (Room 4B96) 24/04/2024 16:00 Lifespan Equipment Demonstration 01/05/2024 16:00 Victoria Lee (SRUC) F2F/hybrid 08/05/2024 10:00 James Brooks (Kyoto) Online 15/05/2024 22/05/2024 16:00 Elodie Freymann online ------------------------------- Dr Pawel Fedurek (he/his) Lecturer in Psychology Behaviour and Evolution Research Group (BERG) Division of Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences University of Stirling Stirling, FK9 4LA Scotland, UK Tel: +44 (0)1786 467844<tel:+441786467844> Twitter: @fedurekp<https://twitter.com/fedurekp> @BERG_Stirling<https://twitter.com/BERG_Stirling> Staff page<https://www.stir.ac.uk/people/1080868> | BERG page<https://www.stir.ac.uk/about/faculties/natural-sciences/our-research/resear…> I aim to reply within 3 working days (my working days are between Monday and Friday). ________________________________ Scotland’s University for Sporting Excellence The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159

1 year, 1 month

BES talk 28 Feb: The birds and the bees: how do different organisms use the same information?

by Clare Andrews

Dear BERGers, The talk BES talk below may be of interest: The birds and the bees: how do different organisms use the same information? Maria Tello Ramos<https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Maria-Tello-Ramos>, Research Fellow, School of Biology, University of St Andrews Wednesday 28th February, 1-2pm, Cottrell 2V1 and streamed on Teams<https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_YmZiNzY5ZDUtMWVlZC00…>. This seminar is open to all staff, students and affiliates of the University of Stirling. The seminar is hosted by Biological and Environmental Sciences (BES). https://besseminars.stir.ac.uk/event/28-02-24/ Who this might appeal to: The talk should be of interest to behavioural ecologists in general and those working in insects and bird behaviour. My talk should overlap with the evolving organisms research group. I will talk about convergence in cognition, so it should also be of interest to people studying cognition in general. Abstract: Different animals solve ecological problems in a myriad of ways. Some animals navigate by following stars, others follow smells and others count steps. All solutions get animals where they need to go, and different solutions depend on what information animals have available at a time and how they process that information. More remarkable still, is when vastly different species like hummingbirds and bees behave analogously, seemingly solving cognitive problems in the same way. The size of a hummingbird's brain is not only orders of magnitude larger than that of a bee, but its morphology is also vastly different. And yet, their foraging from hundreds of flowers in a day is equally effective. While hummingbirds and bees seem to converge in the types of information they can learn when foraging from a single flower (e.g., colour, location, time of day), recent experiments suggest that when solving multiple-destination problems, these animals use different strategies: from the outset hummingbirds develop repeatable routes by visiting each nearest neighbouring flower, while bees develop optimal routes through trial and error. Does this mean that hummingbirds and bees use information differently? I will discuss how comparing the foraging behaviour of these two very different taxa can help us understand how different brains faced with solving a similar task may direct attention, perceive, or process information in different ways. Bio: I am a cognitive ecologist specialized in studying behaviour in wild birds. I received my PhD from the University of St Andrews where I am currently working as a research fellow in a project aimed at understanding the major transitions in the evolution of cognition by comparing the cognitive abilities of hummingbirds and bees. At the same time, I am also interested in how multiple individuals can coordinate their individual behaviour and for this, I study the building behaviour white-browed sparrow weavers in South Africa. It turns out, that these birds are not only cooperative breeders but also cooperative builders. To better understand how different cognitive abilities have evolved, I have studied the cognitive abilities of different species around the world, each allowing me to answer a different question. Dr Tony Robertson Lecturer in Geographies of Health Executive Editor, Longitudinal and<https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journals/llcs/llcs-overview.…> <https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journals/llcs/llcs-overview.…> Life<https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journals/llcs/llcs-overview.…> <https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journals/llcs/llcs-overview.…> course<https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journals/llcs/llcs-overview.…> <https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journals/llcs/llcs-overview.…> Studies (LLCS) journal<https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journals/llcs/llcs-overview.…> Room 3A122, Cottrell Building, Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Stirling My office hours for UG and MSc students are 12:00-15:00 on Mondays. You can book a 30-minute slot here<https://outlook.office365.com/owa/calendar/OfficeHoursUGandMSc@stir.onmicro…>. Email: tony.robertson(a)stir.ac.uk<mailto:tony.robertson@stir.ac.uk> Profile page: www.stir.ac.uk/people/257342<http://www.stir.ac.uk/people/257342> Research groups: https://eshh-stirling.com/ and https://extremeevents.stir.ac.uk/ Seminars: https://besseminars.stir.ac.uk/ Twitter: @tonyrobertson82<https://twitter.com/tonyrobertson82> Threads: @twotone82<https://www.threads.net/@twotone82> Recent outputs: * Robertson T (2023) Families, Finance and status (Editorial). Longitudinal and Life Course Studies https://doi.org/10.1332/175795923X16920108505186 * Oliver DM, McDougall CW, Robertson T, Grant B, Hanley N, Quilliam RS (2023) Self-reported benefits and risks of open water swimming to health, wellbeing and the environment: Cross-sectional evidence from a survey of Scottish swimmers. PLoS ONE 18(8): e0290834. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0290834 * Fisher S, Bennett C, Hennessy D, Finès P, Jessri M, Bader Eddeen A, Frank J, Robertson T, Taljaard M, Rosella LC, Sanmartin C, Jha P, Leyland A, Manuel DG (2022) Comparison of mortality hazard ratios associated with health behaviours in Canada and the United States: a population-based linked health survey study. BMC Public Health, 22, 478. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-12849-y * Robertson T, Jepson R, Lambe K, Olsen J, Thornton L (2021) Socioeconomic patterning of food and drink advertising at public transport stops in Edinburgh, UK. Public Health Nutrition, 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980021004766 ________________________________ Scotland's University for Sporting Excellence The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159

1 year, 1 month

BERG meeting this week

by Pawel Fedurek

Dear All, As some of you know, Odette Lis, who was a PhD student in our department, passed away last week. Many of us at BERG had the pleasure to know or meet Odette. She was a lively member of our PGR community who also attended our BERG meetings. We would therefore like to suggest that, to commemorate Odette, during our meeting this week we spend some time together as a group just chatting with each other or sitting in silence. Kirsten kindly offered to postpone her seminar to the 13th of March. The meeting this week will be held in the common room (F2F). Take care everyone. Best wishes, Pawel ------------------------------- Dr Pawel Fedurek (he/his) Lecturer in Psychology Behaviour and Evolution Research Group (BERG) Division of Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences University of Stirling Stirling, FK9 4LA Scotland, UK Tel: +44 (0)1786 467844<tel:+441786467844> Twitter: @fedurekp<https://twitter.com/fedurekp> @BERG_Stirling<https://twitter.com/BERG_Stirling> Staff page<https://www.stir.ac.uk/people/1080868> | BERG page<https://www.stir.ac.uk/about/faculties/natural-sciences/our-research/resear…> I aim to reply within 3 working days (my working days are between Monday and Friday). ________________________________ Scotland’s University for Sporting Excellence The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159

1 year, 2 months

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