Dr Nikolaus von Engelhardt

Qualifications

Professional experience

1/09/2019 - current: Animal Behaviour & Welfare Programme Lead, School of Biological and Marine Sciences, Plymouth University, UK 

5/10/2015 - current: Associate Professor, School of Biological and Marine Sciences, Plymouth University, UK

1/2/2009 - 30/09/2015: Assistant Professor, Department of Animal Behaviour, Bielefeld University, Germany

1/2/2007 - 31/1/2009: Marie Curie Research Fellow, Behavioural Ecology, Cambridge University, UK

15/9/2006 - 15/12/2006: Visiting Fellow, School of Botany and Zoology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

15/6/2006 - 15/9/2006: Lecturer, Behavioural Biology, University of Groningen, The Netherlands

31/5/2004 - 31/1/2009: Associated researcher, Behavioural Biology, University of Groningen, The Netherlands

Education

2000-2004: PhD student, University of Groningen, The Netherlands.

1995-1999: Diplom (MSc) in Biology, University of Bayreuth, Germany

1996-1997: Special Exchange Student (Santander Program), Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, USA

1993-1995: Vordiplom (BSc) in Biology, University of Hamburg, Germany

1992: Study of Medicine, University of Göttingen, Germany

Teaching interests

Research interests

I am especially interested in the mechanisms and the function underlying social interactions and the development of individual differences within populations.

Find more information about our research group here: https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/research/animal-behaviour-research-group

We run a weekly research discussion seminar on topics in behaviour and evolution every Friday at 4pm in PSQ A429. If you are interested in contributing and participating, please contact me.

My research focuses on the shaping of individual development by early environmental effects, in particular social and transgenerational influences. One major goal is to understand more about the behavioural, physiological and genetic mechanisms of transgenerational effects. I also study how social influences later in life shape adult behavior. Finally, I work on the links between ecology, behaviour and physiology. So far I have mostly been involved in fundamental research, but my questions and methods are clearly relevant also for applied aspects in wildlife conservation and animal welfare, particularly in relation to climate change, endocrine disruption and other anthropogenic influences. I am also experienced with the development of molecular methods to assess genetic diversity, paternity and sex as well as endocrine methods that can be used for non-invasive studies and field research (using hair, feathers, saliva or feces) and are useful to assess stress and reproductive performance in field research and captivity.

Find my publications here:

• https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nikolaus_Engelhardt
• http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4971-6408

If you are interested in participating in my current research, please contact me, there may be various possibilities for projects using behavioural, endocrinological and genetic techniques depending upon interest and experience.