Team
Roz Dakin, Principal Investigator
I am an Associate Professor in the Biology Department at Carleton University. I am fascinated by animal behaviour, how it works, and how it evolves. I’m also passionate about data and quantitative biology.
I completed my BSc, MSc, and PhD at Queen’s University, and was a postdoctoral fellow at UBC and the Smithsonian.
Graduate Students
Émilie Gagnon, PhD – Hummingbird behaviour
Igor Kabic, MSc – Hummingbird collision avoidance
Undergraduate Students
Griffin Mattes – research assistant
Shayla Denis – iCureus award
Julia Fini – BIOL 4901
Zeinab Awada – BIOL 4901
Nahit Ozcelik – BIOL 4901
Research Technician
Courtney Ransom, MSc
Lab Alumni
Juan Camilo Ríos-Orjuela, PhD 2026 – Hummingbird morphology and evolution, ELAP award
Dr. Ilias Berberi, PhD 2024 – Social and ecological competition, OGS award
Caitlin Menzies, MSc 2024 – Social behaviour in turtles (co w/ Christina Davy)
Dr. Emil Isaksson, PhD 2024 – Social learning in birds (co w/ Julien Martin and Julie Morand-Ferron)
Ru Ratnayake, MSc 2024 – Effects of the environment on social structure
Dr. Ethan Hermer, postdoc 2023 – Heuristics in science
Courtney Donkersteeg, MSc 2022 – Exploration behaviour in hummingbirds
Erin Jackson, MSc 2022 – Bird migration dynamics
Undergraduate Alumni
Aayushi Sharma BIOL 4901 2025 – Hummingbird behaviour
Anshika Kumar BIOL 4901 2025 – Hummingbird behaviour
Brendan McKernan ENSC 4901 2025 – Hummingbird behaviour
Nour Salama 2024-25 – DSRI Award, NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award
Percy Hentschel 2025 – Hummingbird behaviour, DSRI award
Lacey Pilon 2025 – Hummingbird behaviour, BISRI award
Zoe Waller 2025 – Laura Thomas Summer Research Internship
Josh Cadieux 2024-25 – Bird-building collisions, NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award
Sydney Williams BIOL 4901 and 4908 2024-25 – Hummingbird behaviour
Ayesha Ahmed BIOL 4908 2024-25 – Animal vision
Steph Vienneau BIOL 3901 2024 – Birds and urbanization
Tianna Huynh BIOL 4908 2023-24 – Hummingbird competition
Emily Cornthwaite BIOL 4908 2023-24 – NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award
MJ McAllister work study 2024 – Hummingbird competition
Emma Simpson BIOL 4901 2024 – Hummingbird competition
Cara Garneau BIOL 4901 2024 – Data analysis
Nader St-Amant 2023 – Laura Thomas Summer Research Internship in Biology
Augusto Urena Pichardo BIOL 4908 2022-23 – Evolution of flocking
Amy Bachhuber BIOL 4908 2022-23 – Flocking and urbaniziation
Rebecca Moreno BIOL 4908 2022-23 – Sociality and migration
Rami Al-Arabi BIOL 4901 2022-23 – Bird skeletal anatomy
Lauren Miner BIOL 4901 2022-23 – Hummingbird skeletal anatomy
Emily Cornthwaite BIOL 4901 2022-23 – Local hummingbird feeder monitoring
Eric Maquignaz 2022 – Social networks across species, iCureus Award
Justyna Fleming BIOL 4908 2021-22 – Inheritance of social capital
Charlotte Jerome 2021 – Hummingbird foraging behaviour, DSRI Award
Jessica Bellefeuille BIOL 4901 and 4908 2020-22 – Winter flocking in birds
Brenna Gagliardi BIOL 4901 and 4908 2020-22 – Scaling of social network properties
Ashley Irwin BIOL 4908 2020-21 – Interpretation of data by scientists
Jenna Watson BIOL 4908 2020-21 – Mate choice for social skills
Grace Simonds ENSC 4908 2020-21 – Bird distributions & urbanization
Zoe Hillier-Weltman BIOL 4908 2020-21 – Bird population estimates & observer age
Kara Scott BIOL 4901 2020-21 – Weather and bird building collisions, iCureus Award
Courtney Donkersteeg BIOL 4908 2019-20 – Aerial insectivore population declines
Paisley Clunis BIOL 4908 2019-20 – Reciprocity in social networks
Erin Jackson BIOL 4908 2019-20 – Flight morphology and bird collisions
Technicians and Volunteers
Many thanks to Alexa Dansereau, MJ McAllister, Lauren Miner, Albana Berberi, Kara Scott, Kyna Crumley, Blossom Opanike, Mahmoud El-Saadi, and other students who have been helping with our research!