Please vote by following this link: https://asab.wildapricot.org/Sys/Poll/75296

Ordinary Member (1 position)

Natalie Pilakouta - University of St Andrews

ASAB has played an important role throughout my career: I have regularly attended ASAB conferences, benefited from an ASAB Childcare Grant, published multiple papers in Animal Behaviour and currently serve as an Editor for this journal. These experiences have given me an appreciation of the valuable support that ASAB provides to researchers at different career stages, and I would welcome the opportunity to give back to the ASAB community and contribute to the continued success of ASAB. I have been an active member of the scientific community throughout my academic career and have contributed extensively to the peer review process for papers (>40 journals), as well as grant applications as a reviewer and panel member (e.g., NERC, BBSRC, BES, Leverhulme Trust). As a lecturer at the University of St Andrews, I also have experience contributing to committee work (Research Committee, Ethics Committee, and EDI Committee). I would bring enthusiasm to this role, as well as a collaborative approach and a commitment to supporting ASAB’s mission.

Stephen Montgomery - University of Cambridge

ASAB is a perfect example of how academic societies benefit their community, with an emphasis on ECRs that reflects a commitment to fostering the future of our subject. I would be delighted to have the opportunity to help the Society in this role. I have a range of experience promoting research culture, EDI and skills development, which I hope means I can make a broad contribution. For example, I led our School’s EDI Committee and successful Award Athena Swan Gold application, and established new Widening Participation programs. I have also introduced new support mechanisms for Postgraduates, including workshops on ‘EDI in Academia’ and ‘Resilience in the Academia’. Externally, I am an EDI Champion for the EDI Caucus, a member of the BBSRC EDI Expert Advisory Group, the BNA’s EDI Committee. As a Trustee of a small community nursery, I also have an understanding of the regulations that charities work under.

Membership Secretary

Lisa Leaver - University of Exeter

As a longstanding (over 30 years!) member of ABS/ASAB, I would like to stand as a nominee for ASAB Membership Secretary. My motivation for taking this role is to contribute my expertise and experience back to the society that has done so much for me and which has played a key role in the development of so many of my students and colleagues across the world. My own career has spanned research on foraging, food caching, cognition, welfare, social networks, economic discounting and predator avoidance primarily using the grey squirrels on my long-term campus-based field site, known as the Exeter Squirrel Project, and ASAB has supported innumerable students involved in this research. In addition to my experience as a researcher and mentor, my university leadership roles in postgraduate teaching and widening participation give me a broad range of expertise which I hope to contribute to ASAB.

Social Media Officer

Jennifer Colbourne - University of Vienna

I have been serving as social media officer since 2024 and am seeking to be re-elected to the position. In that time, as we no longer have a Twitter/X account, I have expanded our social media presence to Bluesky and LinkedIn, and have developed our accounts on Instagram and Facebook. On all of these channels, in addition to advertising conferences, grant deadlines, contest winners, animal behaviour opportunities and other ASAB news, I have added regular promotions of the Animal Behaviour journal, short fun videos, and features of ASAB council members. I have also covered in detail all of the ASAB conferences, including photos of key events and social events, summarizing talks, and sharing members’ experiences. I have truly enjoyed my time on council thus far, and would love to have the opportunity to continue to build our online presence.

Communications Officer

Sophia Daoudi-Simison - University of Newcastle

I have been a member of ASAB since 2016, and it has been such a privilege to give back to the society through my role as Communications Officer these past 3 years. The website is a vital source of information for our members, and I've worked hard to improve its accessibility and usability - upgrading the whole site, adding new pages to share information about available roles within ASAB, and consolidating our society pages on Wikipedia. I also monitor our Animal Behaviour mailing list via Jiscmail to keep everyone informed about the latest job opportunities, PhD/PostDoc positions, MSc/MRes courses, conferences and workshops etc. Together with the Social Media Officer, we have worked hard to showcase our conferences and workshops, and I've really enjoyed putting together the quarterly newsletters that highlight all the amazing work our members do. If elected again, I will continue working to the high standard you expect while implementing more website improvements and fostering that sense of community within our membership.

Please vote by following this link: https://asab.wildapricot.org/Sys/Poll/75296