My work aims to provide a better understanding of the potential impacts of renewable energy developments on seabird populations within the UK, mainly in Scotland, and to identify effective strategies for mitigating these effects. While my current role involves primarily office-based work, I hope to get back into the action soon!

I am a PhD Candidate and the Lab Coordinator for the Montevecchi Lab at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador. Through my PhD research, I study consistency of behaviour across spatial and temporal scales and its applicability to conservation, specifically focusing on measures of animal personality and consistency of space use. My research is investigating whether Leach's Storm-Petrels (Hydrobates leucorhous) that exhibit consistent behaviour also experience consistent exposure to risks. I love using remote monitoring techniques (like PIT/RFID systems, GPS and GLS tags) to investigate consistency of behaviour and to answer questions about the life history of cryptic seabirds.

My research interests focus on seabird ecology from local to global scales. I couple fieldwork, timeseries, and modern statistical tools to understand how seabirds respond to anthropogenic and natural drivers. My ultimate goal is to create sustainable conservation solutions. For my PhD, I work in partnership with Inuit community members and government bodies to co-produce knowledge about the seabird species and populations with the greatest limitations to environmental change in Canada. For ten years, I have also been actively communicating seabird science. I leverage diverse outreach tools to engage local to international audiences, foster inclusivity, and inspire communities.

Katja loves all things animal communication, but she did become somewhat of a puffin biologist during her master's degree. She earned her M.Sc. from Memorial University of Newfoundland in 2023, where she explored the potential adaptive function of the Atlantic puffin's colorful bill. Even though she might be studying a little thing called a hummingbird now for her PhD at Princeton University, she remains fascinated by the amazing behavioral ecology of seabirds and hopes to stay connected to the wonderfully tight-knit seabird community.

I study Leach’s Storm-Petrel sensory ecology to inform conservation efforts and further understand their response to multi-modal sensory cues. In particular, I focus on their response to artificial light at night and olfaction.

My research focuses on the effects of omega-3s on the health, behaviour, and cognition of seabirds and is funded by NSERC and OFI. My work involves conducting fieldwork at urban and remote seabird colonies, and labwork including genetic sexing, gas chromatography, mass spectrometry, stable isotope analysis, and hormone analysis. In parallel, I coordinate research efforts to mitigate seabird bycatch in gillnet and long-line fisheries. I’m also passionate about nutrition in a marine context and I am currently working on developing land-based fish feeds for a more sustainable aquaculture industry.

I study prospecting behaviour in pre-breeding Leach's storm-petrels. I started studying Leach's storm-petrels on Great Duck Island in Maine, where my undergraduate thesis focused on population monitoring and census methods. I am now a graduate student at Memorial University of Newfoundland in the Cognitive and Behavioural Ecology program, where I am supervised by Dr. David Wilson. I am interested in why and how Leach's storm-petrels prospect at colony sites prior to breeding and in how population monitoring and conservation tactics can account for pre-breeding birds. My fieldwork will involve a combination of radio telemetry, acoustic monitoring, and mist-netting.

Assisted in a seabird research project to count and identify bird species near Rigolet, Labrador, and research their nesting area's. Seabirds are very culturally important in my area, they are a major food source for Labrador Inuit. I also am creating a sustainable egg harvesting management plan for Nunatsiavut.

My M.Sc. thesis focuses on exploring the potentials of PIT tagging as a technology which allows for the collection of large amounts of data with limited disturbance, specifically in two auk species: the ground-nesting rhinoceros auklet and the cliff-nesting thick-billed murre.