I’m the author of Playing Possum: How Animals Understand Death, which has been recommended in The New York Times and The Guardian, and selected as one of the best books of 2024 by The New Yorker. It is currently being translated into eight languages.
I’m interested in what animals are capable of feeling, thinking, and doing, and what this means for the sort of treatment that we owe them.
Most of my research has focused on (socio-)cognitive capacities traditionally viewed as uniquely human, such as morality or a concept of death. I’m interested in exploring to what extent these preconceptions respond to over-intellectualised accounts of these capacities or to skewed interpretations of the available data. I am also involved in devising conceptually more robust (and more ethical) ways of studying animal minds, and reflecting on the ethical implications of new discoveries in comparative cognition.
My work is highly inter-disciplinary and involves collaborations with philosophers and scientists from different fields. In addition, I aim for my research to have an impact beyond academia, and have published popular pieces in outlets like TIME magazine, Aeon, and New Scientist.
You can check out what I’ve written until now by having a look at my publications.