Dr Christina Stanley
Deputy Head of School of Natural Sciences, Associate Professor in Animal Behaviour and Welfare, Programme Leader for MSc Animal Behaviour.
Dr Stanley is currently an Associate Professor in Animal Behaviour and Welfare within the School of Natural Sciences. She is a Deputy Head of School, in addition to leading the MSc in Animal Behaviour. Her main research interest is in animals' individual social experiences and in applications of behavioural ecology to welfare and conservation. Much of her current work focuses on various bat species.
Outside of the university, Dr Stanley is a co-opted member of the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA) Research Committee; this enables her to help support member zoos/aquariums and researchers to carry out high quality, impactful research that has both animal welfare and conservation benefits.
During her recent secondment as a University Innovation Fellow, Dr Stanley's major focus was around supporting positive mental health in academia and in the use of technology to enhance inclusive teaching practice. She continues to prioritise these areas and uses a learner-centred approach in her teaching to ensure sessions are both inclusive and engaging.
Dr Stanley champions the development of students’ science communication skills and their freedom of choice in assessments, both of which are evident in her behavioural ecology-based modules at levels 6 (final year BSc) and 7 (MSc).
As a behavioural ecologist, Dr Stanley’s research focuses on the social experiences of animals. From bats to horses, individuals’ social environments, in terms of the social network in which they are embedded, can have significant positive and negative impacts on their lives.
Dr Stanley’s research has practical applications to conservation and the quantification of animal welfare; for example, a long-term project working with the critically endangered Livingstone’s fruit bat has significantly improved our ability to manage captive breeding populations of this and other fruit bat species.
Dr Stanley is currently leading a Leverhulme Trust funded project that will improve our ability to mitigate against anthropogenic impacts on lesser horseshoe bats, assessing welfare in wild populations and developing exciting new technology for monitoring small-bodied bats.
Most recent
, , , & (2024). Management of intraspecific aggression in two bull giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis ssp. rothschildi). Zoo Biology, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1002/zoo.21843
Górecka-Bruzda A, Siemieniuch M, Lansade L, Stanley CR. (2024) How Useful Are Existing Protocols in the Quick Assessment of the Welfare of Semi-Feral Horses? Pilot Study on Konik Polski Horses Living in the Forest Sanctuary. Animals 14(1),8.
Górecka-Bruzda, A.,Jaworska, J. & Stanley, C. R. (2023). Bachelor and family life: welfare and reproduction of free-roaming domestic horse (Equus caballus) stallions. Animals, 13(7), 1151.
Yates, K., Stanley, C. R., & Bettridge, C. M. (2022). The effects of allogrooming and social network position on behavioural indicators of stress in female lion-tailed macaques (Macaca silenus). Behavioural Processes, 104740.
Edwards, M. J., Stanley, C. R., Hosie, C. A., Richdon, S., Price, E., Wormell, D., & Smith, T. E. (2022). Social roles influence cortisol levels in captive Livingstone's fruit bats (Pteropus livingstonii). Hormones and Behavior, 144, 105228.
Brambilla, A., von Hardenberg, A., Canedoli, C., Brivio, F., Sueur, C., & Stanley, C. R. (2022). Long term analysis of social structure: evidence of age‐based consistent associations in male Alpine ibex. Oikos, e09511.
Harley, J., Rowden, L., Clifforde, L., & Power, A. & Stanley, C.R., (2022). Preliminary investigation of the effects of a concert on the behavior of zoo animals. Zoo Biology.
Górecka-Bruzda, A., Jaworska, J., Siemieniuch, M., Jaworski, Z., Stanley, C. R., Wocławek-Potocka, I., & Lansade, L. (2021). Human-controlled reproductive experience may contribute to incestuous behavior observed in reintroduced semi-feral stallions (Equus caballus). Theriogenology.
Wiśniewska, A., Janczarek, I., Wilk, I., Tkaczyk, E., Mierzicka, M., Stanley, C. R., & Górecka-Bruzda, A. (2021). Heterospecific Fear and Avoidance Behaviour in Domestic Horses (Equus caballus). Animals, 11(11), 3081.
Edwards, M. J., Hosie, C. A., Smith, T. E., Wormell, D., Price, E., & Stanley, C. R. (2021). Principal Component Analysis as a novel method for the assessment of the enclosure use patterns of captive Livingstone’s fruit bats (Pteropus livingstonii). Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 244, 105479.
Harley, J.J.; Stack, J.D.; Braid, H.; McLennan, K.M.; Stanley, C.R. (2021). Evaluation of the Feasibility, Reliability, and Repeatability of Welfare Indicators in Free-Roaming Horses: A Pilot Study. Animals 11, 1981.
Panaccio, M., Ferrari, C., Bassano, B., Stanley, C.R. & von Hardenberg, A. (2021). Social Network Analysis of small social groups: application of a hurdle GLMMs approach in the Alpine marmot (Marmota marmota). Ethology.
2017-2020
Welch, M. J., Smith, T., Hosie, C., Wormell, D., Price, E., & Stanley, C. R. (2020). Social Experience of Captive Livingstone’s Fruit Bats (Pteropus livingstonii). Animals, 10(8), 1321.
Nolan R., Welsh A., Geary M., Hartley M., Dempsey A., Mono J.C., Osei D. & Stanley C.R.(2019). Camera Traps Confirm the Presence of the White-naped Mangabey Cercocebus lunulatusin Cape Three Points Forest Reserve, Western Ghana. Primate Conservation 33.
Fraser M.D., Stanley C.R. & Hegarty, M.J. (2019) Recognising the potential role of native ponies in conservation management. Biological Conservation 235, 112-118.
Stanley C.R., Liddiard Williams H., Preziosi R.F. (2018) Female clustering in cockroach aggregations—A case of social niche construction? Ethology.
Stanley, C.R., Mettke-Hofmann, C., Hager, R. & Shultz, S. (2018) Social stability in semiferal ponies: networks show interannual stability alongside seasonal flexibility. Animal Behaviour 136: 175-184 DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2017.04.013.
Snijders, L., Blumstein, D. T., Stanley C. R., Franks, D. W. (2017): Animal Social Network Theory Can Help Wildlife Conservation. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 32(8): 567-577 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2017.05.005.
Stanley, C.R., Mettke-Hofmann, C. & Preziosi, R.F. (2017) Personality in the cockroach Diploptera punctata: Evidence for stability across developmental stages despite age effects on boldness. PLoS ONE 12(5): e0176564.
Up to 2016
Hartley, M. & Stanley, C.R. (2016) Survey of reproduction and calf rearing in Asian and African elephants in European zoos. Journal of Zoo and Aquarium Research, 4(3), 139-146.
Stanley, C.R. (2014) Conservation genetics of wild ponies. Biological Sciences Review, 2, 2-6.
Stanley, C.R. & Dunbar, R.I.M. (2013) Consistent social structure and optimal clique size revealed by social network analysis of feral goats, Capra hircus. Animal Behaviour, 85(4), 771-779.
Stanley, C.R. & Shultz, S. (2012) Mummy's boys: sex differential maternal-offspring bonds in semi-feral horses. Behaviour, 149, 251-274.