Group Leader
Carmen da Silva is a Macquarie Research Fellow hosted by Oliver Griffith and Ajay Narendra. Carmen studies the adaptive capacity of Australian native bees to climate change.
Vanessa Penna Goncalves was awarded her PhD in 2025 at Macquarie University. She joined us as a postdoctoral fellow to characterise the neural circuitry of arcuate body in jumping spiders.
Fiorella Ramirez-Esquivel was awarded a PhD from The Australian National University. She joined us as a postdoctoral fellow in 2025 to study the neuroanatomy of jumping spiders.
Saroja Ellendula joined us in early 2023. As part of her PhD, she is identifying the neural circuitry required for building visual spatial memories in ants.
Martha Daniel is a co-tutelle PhD candidate with us and Martin How (U of Bristol). Martha is investigating foraging behaviours of mantis shrimps both in the wild and in laboratory conditions.
Anuja Joseph completed her MRes and started a PhD in late 2023. Anuja is investigating how native stingless bees modify their flight patterns to avoid collisions with naturally occurring obstacles.
Pranav Joshi completed his MRes and started a PhD in 2024. Loves his Jumping spiders and is studying the jump biomechanics of Salticid spiders in the context of miniaturisation.
Theodora Loupasaki is a co-tutelle PhD candidate with us and Stephen Montgomery (U of Bristol). She is studying the evolution of long-term memory in insects.
Anna Seibel was awarded her MRes in 2026 for her research on the navigational strategies used by an exclusive arboreal jumping spider.
Jade Thurlow started her MRes with us in 2025. Jade is studying the kinematics of swimming behaviour in Australian ants.
Gunnnar Tribelhorn joined us for a MRes program in 2025. He is studying the navigational behaviours of 3D specialist jumping spiders.
Nikki Chin started her MRes with us in 2026. She is carrying out extensive field work to study the hunting behaviours of Bembix wasps.
Recent Visitors
Dr Sam England; Dr Yuri Ogawa; Prof Dinesh Rao; Prof Diana Peerez-Staples; Prof Christian Peeters; A/Prof Marc Seid
Our Wonderful Collaborators
Prof Ximena Nelson, University of Canterbury, NZ; Prof Jochen Zeil, Australian National University, Canberra; A/Prof Jan Hemmi, University of Western Australia, Perth; A/Prof Richard Peters, La Trobe University, Bundoora; Prof Dinesh Rao, Universidad Veracruzana, Mexico; A/Prof Fleur Ponton, Macquarie University, Sydney; Prof Marie Herberstein, Macquarie University, Sydney; Dr Fiorella Ramirez-Esquivel, UNSW ADFA campus, Canberra; Prof Andrew Barron, Macquarie University, Sydney; Dr Yuri Ogawa, Flinders University, Adelaide; Prof Nathan Hart, Macquarie University, Sydney; Prof Heloise Gibb, La Trobe University, Bundoora; Prof Barbara Webb, University of Edinburgh; Dr Stanley Heinze, Lund University; Prof Marc Seid, University of Scranton, Pennsylvania
Alumni
Marija Jordanova, Summer Intern 2026; Anna Seibel, MRes 2026; Marcel Sayre, Postdoctoral fellow 2026; Giovanni Ramon-Cabrera PhD 2025; Casey Forster PhD 2025; Luis Robledo-Ospina, Postdoctoral Fellow 2024; Daniel Allman, MRes 2024; Pranav Joshi, MRes 2023; Anuja Joseph, MRes 2023; Bhavana Penmetcha, PhD 2023; Marcel Sayre, PhD 2023; Vaishnavi Sathyakumar, MRes 2022; Zoltán Kósci, PhD 2022; Zachary Sheehan, Research Assistant 2020; Yuri Ogawa, Postdoctoral Fellow 2019; Bhavana Penmetcha MRes 2019; Frances J Kamhi, Postdoctoral Fellow 2019; Ravindra Palavalli-Nettimi, PhD 2019; Fiorella Ramirez-Esquivel, PhD 2018; Duncan Jaroslow, MRes 2018; Zachary Sheehan, MRes 2017; Alex Swaja, RA 2017; Fiorella Ramirez-Esquivel, PhD 2018; Sara Wood Hons 2014, Chloé Raderschall, MPhil 2015; Fiorella Ramirez-Esquivel, Hons 2013; Samuel Reid, PhD 2011.
Ecological Neuroscience Group 