Research

My Masters by Research is concerned with how predator-prey interactions and antipredator strategies fare against dynamic backgrounds. Natural environments are rarely static; rather, they contain moving physical elements such as wind-blown foliage and flowing rivers, variable illumination patterns such as dappled light or caustics, and the movement of animals themselves. Dynamic illumination has previously been shown to mask the movement of an individual prey item, impeding predation; I aim to investigate how predation of group-living prey (the so-called confusion effect) is influenced by backgrounds that move in a coherent, directed manner. Specifically, I explore whether matching the temporal and spatial properties of a background impedes accurate tracking, which may inform how prey can exploit dynamic backgrounds to avoid capture, and how background matching camouflage fares in a dynamic world. 

Biography

I completed a BSc in Psychology at the University of Bristol, graduating in 2025. I decided to pursue a MSc by Research in Psychology, supervised by Nick Scott-Samuel and Ute Leonards (School of Psychological Science), and in close interdisciplinary collaboration with Innes Cuthill (School of Biological Science).

Publications