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Profile

Chris is a Deputy Director of the Centre for Machine Intelligence and a Lecturer and research group leader in the School of Biosciences. He is an evolutionary biologist with research interests spanning animal behaviour, ecology, evolution, biodiversity and human-nature interactions. His research has a particular focus on the ecology and evolution of animal communication systems, and how natural and artificial models of sensory perception, processing and cognition can help inform our understanding of these systems. He has previously held independent research fellowships including Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship (2018-2021) and NERC Independent Research Fellowship (2021-2026). In 2026 he was appointed Researcher Development Lead for the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology group with the School of Biosciences.

Chris has led work integrating AI-driven approaches into biological research and has secured funding to develop user-friendly open-access tools for facilitating AI adoption in the biosciences. He is the CMI Interest Group Lead for Biology and AI and has led the organisation of cross-Faculty events within the University to facilitate knowledge sharing and AI excellence across the biosciences. He has given invited talks on biology and AI within the University and at various external conferences and meetings. He also leads on various education-focused initiatives focused on the integration of AI augmented discovery in the life sciences.

Research interests

• Ecology
• Evolution
• Biodiversity
• Human-nature interactions
• Animal communication
• Biology and AI

Full contact details

Dr Chris Cooney
School of Biosciences
B82, Alfred Denny Building
Western Bank
Sheffield
S10 2TN

Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=177bOfMAAAAJ&hl=en&inst=12733411405069140160

Personal website: