Zanna Clay is an Assistant Professor in the Psychology Department at the University of Durham in North East England. Dr. Clay uses the comparative approach with primates to investigate the evolution of human behavior. She is a leading specialist in great ape behavior, with particular focus on bonobos. Her primary interests include the evolution of empathy, language, and cultural cognition, which now extends to studies of human children. Dr. Clay conducted her doctoral work investigating vocal communication in bonobos and language evolution.
In her post-doctoral work, she worked with Prof Frans de Waal (Emory University) to examine empathy and its development in bonobos. She also conducted post-doctoral research studying social awareness and communication in wild bonobos at the University of Neuchatel (Switzerland). She recently completed a Marie Curie Research Fellowship at the University of Birmingham examining the evolution and development of cultural cognition using comparisons of great apes and children.
