I am a biological anthropologist with a keen interest in the evolution of behavior and cognition of human and nonhuman primates. I have studied different aspects of culture and cooperation in several nonhuman primates including baboons, orangutans, chimpanzees and bonobos. I am currently extending my research to the behavioral ecology and psychology of cooperation in a human population of Amazonian forager-horticulturalists, the Tsimane (http://www.unm.edu/~tsimane/). In addition I'm involved in cross-cultural projects on several small-scale human societies.

Field work on orangutans in Indonesia

After an undergrad in biology, I got my Master of Science and PhD from the University of Zurich working with Carel van Schaik at the Anthropological Institute and Museum (http://www.aim.uzh.ch/). Since 2011 I am doing postdoctoral research at the University of California Santa Barbara with Michael Gurven at the Department of Anthropology (http://www.anth.ucsb.edu/).

I have also always been interested in collaborations and exchange beyond departmental boundaries: In Zurich I was a member of the Graduate Program for Interdisciplinary Research in Ethics (http://www.ethik.uzh.ch/ufsp/graduiertenprogramm.html), and at UCSB I am a junior research fellow at the Sage Center for the Study of Mind (http://www.sagecenter.ucsb.edu/)

Field work with the Tsimane of Bolivia