Research group: Conservation, Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour

About our research

We are dedicated to understanding the biology of organisms and the conservation of biodiversity to promote ecosystem sustainability.

Our research encompasses a wide range of organisms, including animals, plants and microorganisms, and we use state-of-the-art techniques to study their ecology, evolution and behaviour.

Our team includes world leaders in the fields of behaviour, bioacoustics, comparative physiology, genetics and ornithology. Our specialisms encompass:

Biodiversity and conservation science
Ex situ conservation management & welfare
Evolution, morphology & behaviour
Avian biology and conservation
Community and public engagement

We are interested in understanding the factors that threaten the survival of species and developing effective strategies to conserve them.

We work closely with dozens of community stakeholders, conservation organisations, and government agencies, and collaborate with leading research-focused zoos.

We actively engage in capacity building for conservation science, and develop strategies that maintain biodiversity while promoting human well-being.

A pair of Red and Green Macaws in flight

Ornithology

Manchester Met’s world-leading ornithology research cluster is at the forefront of research to protect birds and their ecosystems in an unprecedented age of global change.

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Selected projects

Building capacity to monitor forests

Supporting local scientists to investigate the function and condition of protected forests in Sierra Leone.
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Calculating the age of older fossils

Developing new techniques for dating dental enamel to improve our understanding of mammalian evolution.
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Protecting Java’s montane wildlife

Gathering evidence about the abundance of species only found in mountainous regions of this Indonesian island.
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Touch sensing in mammals

Understanding the arrangement and sensation of mammal whiskers using anatomy, behaviour, modelling and robotics.
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Electrochemical sensors for fungal pathogens

Helping to protect amphibian species from Chytrid infection through a new cheap and easy-to-use test.
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