PhD Researcher, University of Exeter

I undertook a BSc in Biology at the University of Perugia (Italy) and have a MSc in Evolution of Animal and Human Behaviour from the University of Turin (Italy). During the last four years I have been working on the impact of free-roaming cats on Scopoli’s shearwaters in Linosa Island (Italy), aiming at finding ethical solutions to reduce cat predation on shearwaters. I am vice-president of “Berta Maris”, a non-profit association of behavioural specialists working on seabird breeding islands.

I started my PhD at University of Exeter in 2017 leading the ecological and behavioural part of a wider project on domestic cats. The main aim is to identify the drivers of cat hunting behaviour and find realistic solutions to mitigate cat impact on wildlife, while simultaneously improving cats’ welfare as pets.