Current group members
Graduate students
PhD students
Nina Alves
UNESP - São Paulo State University
Nina is a visiting ELAP student.
Alex Berger
Alex is working on exploration and social learning in guppies.
MSc students
Megan Cyr
Megan began in September 2023 and will be working on innovation in guppies.
Laurie Dufour
Co-supervised by Rachel Page.
Laurie is working on social learning in guppies and bats.
Adithi Rao
Co-supervised by Jon Sakata.
I am interested in the neural underpinnings of behaviour and will be studying this in relation to social learning in guppies. Outside of work in the lab, I care about conservation and the environment, as well as education and outreach.
McGill alumni
Postdoctoral fellows
Mélanie Guigueno
Mélanie is now an assistant professor in the Department of Biology at McGill University, Canada.
Pierre-Olivier Montiglio
Co-supervised by Andrew Hendry.
Pierre-Olivier is now an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Québec at Montreal (UQAM), Canada.
Adam Reddon
Adam is now a Senior Lecturer in Behavioural Ecology at Liverpool John Moores University, UK.
Sarah Turner
Sarah is now an Associate Professor in Geography, Planning and Environment, Concordia University, Canada.
Lisa Jacquin
Co-supervised by Andrew Hendry.
Lisa is now an associate professor of Ecology & Evolution at Toulouse 3 Paul Sabatier University, France.
William Swaney
Will is now a Senior Lecturer in Epigenetics at Liverpool John Moores University, UK.
Graduate students
MSc students
![[Photograph of Maria Creighton]](https://www.mcgill.ca/reader-lab/files/reader-lab/styles/wysiwyg_medium/public/mariacreighton.jpg?itok=rReZ2sHM)
Maria Creighton
Working in collaboration with Arne Mooers.
My research interests broadly include primate evolution, social behaviour, and conservation. During my MSc, I explored some notable determinants of primate species diversity. Specifically, I focused on: (i) how behaviour influences the evolutionary trajectories of primate clades; and (ii) how changes in systematic practices (particularly the applications of different species concepts) influence perceived primate diversity.
Maria has now completed her MSc and began her PhD in Susan Alberts’s lab at Duke University in August 2021.
![[Photograph of Raina Fan]](https://www.mcgill.ca/reader-lab/files/reader-lab/styles/wysiwyg_medium/public/raina_fan_2569_500.png?itok=3FjCVBHP)
Raina Fan
Co-supervised by Jon Sakata.
Broadly, I’m interested in the study of animal behaviour through the lenses of neuroscience and ecology. I’m fascinated by questions about how cognitive processes shape social behaviour and communication, and how these answers can shape how we think about ecology and conservation. I can’t help but be especially drawn to the social adaptations that have evolved under the unique constraints of aquatic and marine environments, which is why I tend gravitate towards research involving fishes or marine mammals.
Raina has now completed her MSc and, after a stint with the DFO, has joined Whale Seeker as Science Communication and Outreach Lead.
![[Photograph of Wyatt Toure]](https://www.mcgill.ca/reader-lab/files/reader-lab/styles/wysiwyg_medium/public/wyatt_toure_2650_500.png?itok=ngt71q2O)
Wyatt Toure
I am broadly interested in evolutionary and behavioural biology. I want to understand how species and individuals adapt to their environments through their behaviour by uncovering the mechanisms generating behavioural diversity and link this information to its ecological and evolutionary context. In answering these questions I leverage Python programming, and computer vision to automate either the conduction of experiments or the collection of data or both, allowing me to collect high resolution data in a standardized manner. In addition to research I have interests in scientific media, producing short films and videos on various aspects of biology.
Wyatt has now completed his MSc and began his PhD in Andrés Bendesky's lab at Columbia University in September 2021.
Paul Sims, PhD
Paul is now Senior Data Scientist (Senior Manager of Econometrics) at Bliss Point Media.
Ivon Vassileva
Co-supervised by Rachel Page.
Ivon is now the Animal Care Facility Manager at Concordia University.
Laura Chouinard-Thuly, PhD
After a postdoc at UQAM, Laura is now an attachée de presse at the Assemblée nationale du Québec.
María Cabrera-Álvarez, PhD
María is now a research Associate at FishEthoGroup and Fish Ethology and Welfare Group at Centre of Marine Sciences (CCMAR), Faro, Portugal.
Ioannis Leris
PhD, Utrecht & McGill Universities
Ioannis is now a biologist at the Hellenic Center for Marine Research, Greece.
Undergraduate students
Mina Araya-Yohannes
Summer Biology Research Award recipient
I am a second-year physiology major and global health minor student. One of my research interests is in how animals learn from and how their behavior is influenced by their environment and others around them which is the field I will be working in this summer. I look forward to not only gain knowledge on this topic but I also look forward to learning more on the research process.