Chris Bird

+44 (0)1223 742101
cdb29@cam.ac.uk

I've always been interested in both art and science, and after studying zoology here in Cambridge in 2004, have finally found a way of combining the two. My PhD aims to assess the possibility of presenting digital visual information as stimuli to rooks and jackdaws, for use in Corvid intelligence studies. Initially video playback will be used, to determine whether the birds respond to video information in a naturalistic way. Following this, the study will progress to the creation and presentation of a computer generated 3D model with fully controllable features and stereotypic movements.

Obviously my work uses computer graphics to a large degree and I am looking forward to the challenge of learning about 3D modelling. By the end I should not only have gained a great deal of scientific and computer graphic knowledge but will have provided the research group with a powerful behavioural research tool.

My PhD is funded by the BBSRC.