Sonya Pashchevskaya

IMPRS Doctoral Student

Department for the Ecology of Animal Societies
Research Group Fruth

spashchevskaya@ab.mpg.de

Main Focus

I am a behavioural ecologist with a background in mathematics and extensive fieldwork experience. My research focuses on sociality in wild bonobos using Bayesian Social Network Analysis (SNA) and includes method-oriented studies for SNA application in long-term data-sets. I am particularly interested in female migrants and their integration into communities, as well as ecological drivers of bonobo social dynamics. I have been associated with the LuiKotale Bonobo Project since the beginning of 2019, and I regularly go to the field site to collect data and train the research assistants teams.

Curriculum Vitae

Education

2020-2021: MSc in Primate Behaviour and Conservation. Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, United Kingdom

2010-2013: BSc in Mathematics, National Research University – Higher School of Economics, Department of Mathematics, Moscow, Russia

2007-2009: Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Kuban State. Kuban State University, Krasnodar, Russia

Work experience

Oct 2021 – May 2022 / May – Sep 2023: Senior Research Assistant, LuiKotale Bonobo Project, Democratic Republic of The Congo

Feb 2019 – Feb 2020: Research Assistant, LuiKotale Bonobo Project, Democratic Republic of The Congo

May 2017 – Mar 2018: Research Assistant, Filoha Hamadryas Project, Awash National Park, Ethiopia

Mar 2016 – Mar 2017: Research Assistant, Laboratory of Prof. Dr. M. Westneat, The University of Chicago and Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, USA

Feb 2016 – Feb 2017: Research Assistant, Laboratory of Prof. Dr. S. London, Institute for Mind and Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, USA

Extra information

My main interest is social behaviour of bonobos (Pan paniscus): its evolution, structure and functions. I am interested in the dynamics of bonobo networks: how their properties change with ecological factors and how individuals’ positions vary in the potential influence on network structure. Coming from a mathematical background, I employ Bayesian Social Network Analysis in my research and address methodological challenges in its application in long-term data-sets. I am particularly fascinated by female migrants and their integration into communities.

• Bonobo • Network analysis • Social behaviour