Biomedical Sciences

Dr Harriet Thatcher, Teaching Fellow

I am a teaching fellow at the University of Edinburgh, teaching on the MSc in Biodiversity, Wildlife and Ecosystem Health.

A photo of Harriet Thatcher by a pond

I am broadly interested in behavioural ecology, with a particular interest in primates. I have had experience applying a variety of behavioural techniques and I enjoy keeping up to date with new literature and methodologies.

I completed my academic degrees at Liverpool John Moores University. I graduated with a BSc in Zoology including a placement year conducting behavioural research on captive primates in the UK. I was then a research assistant on a project assessing the welfare of captive primates and during this time I completed my MPhil. I then went on to do a PhD in collaboration with Liverpool John Moores University and the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa focussing on the behavioural ecology of urban vervet monkeys. Currently, my research focuses on how urban primates adapt to quantified anthropogenic pressures, considering multiple aspects of behavioural flexibility, such as foraging and social behaviour. I am interested in the multiple facets and scales of human-wildlife interactions and how we can apply this knowledge to create suitable management recommendations for human-wildlife coexistence.

In my free time I enjoy baking, rugby and getting outdoors appreciating nature through a variety of activities.

Email: hjones13@ed.ac.uk

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