Dr Ka Chow
Senior Lecturer
Biography
Pizza has a broad research interest, but her main research focus is on the evolution of cognition. Research fields/topics that she is highly interested in include: animal behaviour and cognition, urban wildlife cognition, cognitive ecology, comparative cognition, problem solving, and innovation. She takes interdisciplinary approach (incorporating psychology such as animal behaviour/animal cognition, ecology such as behavioural ecology, and evolution) to answer her research questions. Depending on the research question, she works with different animal species that include honeybees and bumblebees, pigeons, various endangered species of parrots (e.g, Great Green Macaws, Blue-throated Macaws). However, her main study models have been in grey squirrels, Sciurus carolinensis, and red squirrels, S. vulgaris.
Teaching and Supervision
Pizza teaches different modules that include Research Methods and Skills, Becoming a Psychological Researcher, and Animal Psychology. She is also supporting undergraduate and postgraduate students learning through Statistics Support sessions.
Research and Knowledge Exchange
Pizza’s research emphasis on the evolution of cognition. Her research interests include animal behaviour and cognition, urban wildlife cognition, cognitive ecology, comparative cognition, problem solving, and innovation.