Research Interests
Open to PhD applications in the field of
- Biological invasions
- Reproduction and parental care
- Sleep ecology
Current Research Opportunities
- The evolution of vertebrate parental care diversity
- The evolution of placental diversity: between cooperation and conflict
Public outreach & key achievements
Major grants:
- 2018-2023: I co-developed and co-wrote the grant for the successful NERC DTP2 PANORAMA with the Universities of Leeds and York, and co-led the submission for the UoHull together with Professor D. Parsons, ~5.5M£ (PI: Dr Sebastian Rost, University of Leeds).
- 2014-2017: NERC New Investigator Award: Understanding biological invasions: a phylogenetic comparative approach, grant n. NE/K013777/1, PI: Dr I. Capellini - £620,200.
- 2008-2011: BBSRC/NERC Research Grant, PI: Prof. R. Barton, Co-I.: Dr I. Capellini; Evolutionary architecture of reproduction in female mammals, grant n. BB/E014593/1 - £312,000.
Peer Review College Membership:
- 2017-present: NERC Peer Review College, Panel C (biology, ecology & environmental sciences)
- 2018-present: UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellowship Peer Review College & Panel.
Funding agencies refereed for:
- BBSRC (UK), Leverhulme Trust (UK), Agence Nationale de la Recherche, ANR (National Agency for Research; France), German Research Foundation (Germany), Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (Netherlands), Leaky Foundation (USA), Chilean National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development (Chile), National Research Foundation of South Africa (South Africa).
Invited talks:
- 2019: Seminar, Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter (Penryn, March): Evolution of parental care diversity in amphibians.
- Seminar, School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading (Reading, March): Evolution of parental care in mammals and amphibians.
- Seminar, Department of Life Sciences, University of Roehampton (London, February): A global scale approach to biological invasions.
- 2018: Seminar, School of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway, University of London (Egham, October): Functional benefits and ecological constraints of sleep in mammals.
- 2017: Keynote speaker, British Ecological Society meeting on Macroecology of Alien Species, Durham University (Durham, July): Unraveling the fundamental ecological processes of invasion success at the global scale.
- 2016: Seminar, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh (Edinburgh, September): A global scale approach to biological invasions.
- 2015: Seminar, School of Environment and Life Sciences, University of Salford (Salford, February): The evolution of the mammalian placenta: between cooperation and conflict.
- 2014: Keynote speaker, Royal Society Satellite Meeting on Brain development in relation to placental function (Royal Society Chicheley Hall, Chicheley, June): Maternal investment and the evolutionary development of brain size in mammals.
- Seminar, London Evolutionary Research Network, University College London (June): The secrets of sleep: predators, parasites and the evolution of sleep in mammals.
- Keynote speaker, Spring Meeting of the Primate Society of Great Britain, Oxford Brookes University (Oxford, April): Evolution and ecology of mammalian sleep.
- Seminar speaker, School of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln (Lincoln, March): The evolution of the placenta: between cooperation and conflict.
- 2011: Keynote speaker, Annual Trophoblast Meeting on the Evolution of Placentation, Cambridge University (Cambridge, July): Placentation, maternal investment and parasites.
- Seminar, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Berlin, May): Evolution of the placenta: maternal investment, maternal-offspring conflict and parasite pressure.
- Keynote speaker and instructor, AnthroTree 2011 workshop on phylogenetic comparative methods, University of Massachusetts (Amherst, MA, June): Phylogenetic generalised least squares models using BayesTraits.
- 2010: Seminar, School of Psychology, University of Lincoln (Lincoln, February): Maternal investment and the evolutionary development of brain size in mammals.
- Keynote speaker and instructor, Learning from other disciplines statistics workshop, Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University (Newcastle upon Tyne, September): Phylogenetic comparative methods in evolutionary biology.
- 2009: Seminar, Department of Zoology, Cambridge University (Cambridge, November): Comparative analysis of the evolutionary development of brain size in mammals.
- Seminar, Centre for Behaviour and Evolution, Newcastle University (Newcastle upon Tyne, May): Placentation, prenatal maternal investment and neonatal encephalization in mammals.
- Seminar, School of Biological and Earth Sciences, John Moores University (Liverpool, January): Functional benefits and ecological constraints of sleep in mammals.
- 2008: Seminar, Division of Biology, Imperial College London (Ascot, October): Evolution and ecology of mammalian sleep.
- Seminar, School of Biology and Environmental Sciences, University College Dublin (Dublin, March): Evolution of sleep architecture in mammals.
- 2007: Keynote speaker, Symposium Tooth and claw: the evolutionary and functional morphology of aggression at the 8th International Congress of Vertebrate Morphology (Paris, July): Evolution of weapons in the hartebeest.
Qualifications:
- 2016: Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
- 2005: PhD in Biology: Evolutionary ecology of hartebeest, University of Newcastle (U. K.). Supervisors: Prof. M. Gosling and Dr C. Roberts (Newcastle University)
- 2000: Joint MSc & BSc Degree in Natural Sciences, course in Conservation Biology, University of Milan (Italy). Thesis (field based): Male roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) spatial behaviour in the Appennines with special reference to the rut. Top score with distinction (110/110 magna cum laude). Supervisor: Prof. M. Apollonio (Univ. of Pisa)
Research students
| PhD Title | The evolution of parental care in amphibians |
| PhD Title | Parents feeding offspring: the ecology and evolution of parental care in insects (Lead supervisor: Dr James Gilbert) |
| PhD Title | Laterality and parental care in fish (Lead supervisor: Dr Lesley Morrell) |
Alumni: Where are they now