Trying to contact me? My email address is catherine (dot) sheard (at) bristol (dot) ac (dot) uk. Physically I'm based at the School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol. I can also be found on Twitter.
Me, currently:
Me, previously:
Me, my papers:
Me, my teaching:
Me, my outreach and academic service:
Me, my hobbies:
I like to learn fun new languages and chase after fun new birds. At various points in my life I've been an avid outdoorswoman, a puzzle hunt geek, a board game aficionado, and a keen creative writer. I'm politically active, and I do my best to get involved with initiatives to broaden diversity and inclusion in STEM.
Me, in photographic form:
Me, currently:
- postdoc (2019-present) in the Benton Lab at the University of Bristol, studying tetrapod macroevolution
Me, previously:
- postdoc (2017-2019) in the Laland Lab at the University of St Andrews, studying the macroecological and macroevolutionary dynamics of bird nests and bird eggs
- research support assistant (2016-2017) in the excd.lab with Prof. Fiona Jordan at the University of Bristol, a hybrid role between postdoctoral researcher, academic administrator, and science communication officer, applying phylogenetic comparative methods to the study of human linguistic and cultural norms of kinship
- DPhil (2012-2016) in Zoology at the Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology at the University of Oxford with Prof. Nathalie Seddon and Dr. Joseph Tobias on the roles of social and ecological traits in shaping global avian biodiversity, funded by the Oxford Clarendon Fund and the US-UK Fulbright Commission
- BS (2008-2012) in Mathematics and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology from Yale University
- six semesters as a research assistant in the Pama-Nyungan Lab with Prof. Claire Bowern on the linguistic ethnobiology of Hunter-Gatherer Aboriginal Australian languages
- three semesters independent research in the Jetz Lab on the biogeography of nocturnality in birds and mammals
- three semesters as a museum collections assistant in entomology and herbarium divisions of the Yale Peabody Museum
- field experience in Ecuador, Panama, and Namibia
- summer internship at the Bifengxia Giant Panda Research Base
- summer cultural exchange fellowship from the US State Department for research and language study in Indonesia
- two summers helping to run Canada-USA Mathcamp
Me, my papers:
- best bet is Google Scholar
Me, my teaching:
- instructor
- undergraduate: BA Biological Sciences, University of Oxford, tutor (2013-2016)
- Quantitative Methods for the Biological Sciences
- Animal Behaviour
- Ecology
- Evolution
- Evolutionary Ecology
- Behavioural Ecology
- Communication, Culture, and Collective Behaviour
- high school enrichment: Yale Splash, instructor (2007-2008)
- private tutor: math, history, French, SAT prep, flute, piano (2006-2008)
- undergraduate: BA Biological Sciences, University of Oxford, tutor (2013-2016)
- guest lecturer
- MSc Palaeobiology, University of Bristol (2019 - present)
- Current Controversies in Macroevolution
- Phylogenetic Methods
- Big Ideas in Evolution, BA Anthropology, University of Bristol (2017)
- Quantitative Methods for the Biological Sciences, BA Biological Sciences, University of Oxford (2015)
- MSc Palaeobiology, University of Bristol (2019 - present)
- teaching assistant
- postgraduate: Quantitative Methods Spring School, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (2017)
- postgraduate: R4All, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford (2014)
- undergraduate: BA Biological Sciences, University of Oxford, demonstrator (2013-2016)
- Quantitative Methods of the Biological Sciences (2013-2016)
- Animal Behaviour (2015)
- high school enrichment: The Art of Problem Solving, online teaching assistant (2012-2014)
- supervised or co-supervised 7 MSc-, 2 BA-, and 2 postbac/intern-level projects; currently mentoring 1 PhD student and supervising 2 MSci projects
Me, my outreach and academic service:
- associate editor
- Global Ecology and Biogeography (2018-present)
- peer reviewer
- to date 16 academic journals
- UK Fulbright commission grants and fellowships (2013-present)
- conference co-organiser
- BES Macro 2018 (University of St Andrews, July 2018)
- Quantitative Approaches to Language and Culture (University of Bristol, October 2016)
- program mentor
- Critical Language Scholarship (2017-2018)
- UK "Fulbright friend" (2016-2020)
- Sutton Trust US Programme (2014-2017)
- organising committee member
- British Ecological Society Macroecology Special Interest Group (2016-2019)
- North American Computational Linguistics Olympiad (2009-2015)
- United Kingdom Linguistics Olympiad (2012-2014)
- equality and diversity committe member
- British Ecological Society Equality and Diversity Working Group (2019 - present)
- North American Ornithological Conference Diversity and Inclusion Committee (2019 - 2020)
- University of St Andrews School of Biology Equality and Diversity Committee (2018-2019)
- Yale University alumna interviewer (2012-present)
- various public engagement activities with the Oxford Natural History Museum (2013-2014)
- various bird-watching surveys and ornithology public engagement activities (2004-2008)
Me, my hobbies:
I like to learn fun new languages and chase after fun new birds. At various points in my life I've been an avid outdoorswoman, a puzzle hunt geek, a board game aficionado, and a keen creative writer. I'm politically active, and I do my best to get involved with initiatives to broaden diversity and inclusion in STEM.
Me, in photographic form:
(Me + a Greater Bird-of-Paradise, Paradisaea apoda, in the collections of the Natural History Museum at Tring.)
(Me, pretending that I'm a field biologist in Devon.)
