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Dr Cassandra Raby

Dr Cassandra Raby

Profile

I joined the University of Leeds, School of Biology, as a Teaching Fellow in 2022. 

I have an interest and background in the ecological dynamics of animal behaviour and parasite/pathogen transmission, and in One Health research.

I have a PhD in primate parasitology and ecology from the University of Liverpool and the Institute of Zoology, obtained at the start of 2020. The primary focus of my PhD was on the application of quantitative epidemiological methods to explore the transmission of gastrointestinal parasites at the individual, population, and species-level in wild chacma baboons at the Tsaobis Baboon Project. Since then I have been involved in two postdoctoral research positions, the most recent being at the University of Liverpool working with SAVSNET, applying epidemiological analysis to veterinary surveillance data. I also worked as a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Roehampton (2020-2021) and assisted with the development of online conferences during COVID-19.

Research interests

Current research projects

Veterinary Epidemiology: vaccine preventable diseases. University of Liverpool, SAVSNET

Using veterinary surveillance data of small companion animals collated by SAVSNET to explore trends in vaccination and vaccine preventable diseases.

Parasite transmission in wild primates. University of Liverpool and Institute of Zoology

Exploring the environmental and behavioural drivers of gastrointestinal parasite transmission, with a focus of zoonotic pathogens.

Online Academic Conferences. Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour

Development of platforms and methods to host academic conferences online, and exploring the costs and benefits of these events when compared to in-person meetings and workshops.

<h4>Research projects</h4> <p>Any research projects I'm currently working on will be listed below. Our list of all <a href="https://biologicalsciences.leeds.ac.uk/dir/research-projects">research projects</a> allows you to view and search the full list of projects in the faculty.</p>

Qualifications

  • BSc (Hons) Zoology, University of Nottingham, 2008
  • MSc Wild Animal Biology. Merit. Royal Veterinary College. 2010
  • PhD Primate behaviour and health. University of Liverpool. 2020

Professional memberships

  • British Ecological Society (BES)
  • BES Parasite and Pathogen SIG committee member
  • Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour (ASAB)
  • British Society of Parasitology (BSP)
  • Primate Society of Great Britain (PSGB)

Student education

I teach on a variety of modules on the Biology, Zoology, Genetics, and Ecology and Conservation Biology programmes, as well as on the MSc/MRes Biodiversity and Conservation programme. I also supervise research projects for undergraduate and postgraduate students. 

Research groups and institutes

  • Ecology and Evolution