Graduate Students

Daniel Schofield

Elodie Freymann
I am a first year DPhil student under the supervision of Dr Susana Carvalho and Dr Michael Huffman (Kyoto University). My research focuses on the transmission of self-medicative behaviours in chimpanzees, specifically between mothers and infants. I hope to further investigate whether specific gestures or gestural frequencies are used to transmit self-medicative information to determine whether cumulative medicinal knowledge systems exist in primate culture.

Jacinto Mathe

Jana Muschinski

João d'Oliveira Coelho

Katarina Almeida-Warren
I am a final year DPhil student with a background in archaeology, primatology and anthropology, under the supervision of Dr Susana Carvalho. I am interested in the tool-use, archaeology and culture of non-human primates and how this can provide new perspectives to human origins research. My current doctoral project is investigating the ecological and foraging contexts of chimpanzee stone technology as a comparative framework for reconstructing patterns of landscape-use and resource exploitation in our earliest tool-using ancestors.
Through ongoing collaborations, I am also involved in archaeological research of chimpanzee termite-fishing in Tanzania, which is contributing towards our knowledge of plant-based (perishable) tool use and its relevance to human evolution and our technological origins. I am a National Geographic Explorer, and a graduate affiliate at the Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and Evolution of Human Behaviour (ICArEHB) in Portugal.
E-mail: katarina.almeida-warren@anthro.ox.ac.uk
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-7634-9466
Twitter: @KatarinaWarren

Lucy Baehren
I am a fourth year DPhil student under the supervision of Dr Susana Carvalho and Dr Harvey Whitehouse. I am interested in social anthropology and comparative primatology. I'm studying the evolution of leave-taking across humans and non-human primates. My current work focuses on the function of “goodbyes” and whether the phenomenon is unique to Homo sapiens or shows continuity across species.

Lynn Lewis-Bevan

Megan Beardmore-Herd
I am a DPhil student under the supervision of Dr Susana Carvalho and Dr Julia Fischer. My background is in biological anthropology, with an emphasis on human evolution and primatology. For my DPhil research I am studying vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) experiencing a shift in ecology as a result of carnivore reintroductions in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique. After conducting several months of fieldwork in Gorongosa habituating and IDing troops of vervet monkeys whilst collecting data on their behaviour and vocal communication in response to predators and agonistic encounters which was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, I am now using remote detection methods to continue my research and investigate the effects of seasonality, major climatic events, and changes in the landscape of fear on the abundance, distribution, and ranging patterns of these primates.
Contact details: megan.beardmore-herd@anthro.ox.ac.uk

Philippa Hammond
I am a fourth year DPhil student under the supervision of Dr Susana Carvalho and Dr Dora Biro (Zoology Dept.). My research investigates the effects of predation pressure on primate adaptations; my fieldwork is based in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique, where I am monitoring the effects of reduced predation pressure on the ranging, sleeping, and social behaviours of baboons (Papio ursinus). Insights from these field studies will further our understanding of predator-prey dynamics that might have significantly impacted the behavioural evolution of Pleistocene hominins.

Sophie Berdugo
I am a second year DPhil student under the supervision of Dr Emma Cohen and Dr Susana Carvalho. Broadly, I am interested in the factors mediating the frequency and efficiency of tool-use in chimpanzees. I will be undertaking a longitudinal analysis and taking an evolutionary-developmental approach to investigate the role of environmental and social stressors on maternal investment, and to explore the potential subsequent transgenerational effects of maternal style on infant nut-cracking behaviour. Moreover, I will assess whether social support acts as a buffer against these stressors and whether receiving more social support in infancy predicts increased nut-cracking frequency and efficiency in adulthood.