Expertise
The central theme of my research examines how captive environments holistically influence herptile welfare, with a particular emphasis on naturalistic (bioactive) enclosure conditions. As the applied herpetology field remains in its early stages compared to other captive animal disciplines, establishing behavioral baselines often overlaps with my research focus—helping to contextualize herptile behavior, sentience, and health. A key part of my ethos is ensuring that scientific findings are effectively communicated to both institutions and keepers to promote evidence-based improvements in care and welfare to support welfare-first legislative movement.
I currently have several papers in preparation and under review, focusing on environmental enrichment for Leopard Geckos and supporting in comparative studies in Bearded Dragons. These projects span a range of cognitive and behavioral tests, including gaze following; discrimination of familiar and unfamiliar objects, faces, and scents; handling responses; human gaze impact; environmental preference; habituation and novelty effects; and the influence of enrichment on stress indicators such as glucocorticoids.
Future work will extend these themes to other captive reptile species, including Crested Geckos, while working closely with a range of zoological institutions across the world to address lighting standards in herptiles.