Max Kerney

max.kerney@pgr.anglia.ac.uk

Research interests

Thesis title

What caused primate brain size diversity? An analysis of competing hypotheses.

Supervisory team

Dr Jacob Dunn
Dr Claudia Wascher

Research group

Denise is a member of our Behavioural Ecology Research Group.

Summary of research

Max is interested in why some primate species (such as humans) have evolved comparatively large brains while others have evolved comparatively small brains. He is using Phylogenetic Comparative Methods, large sets of primate trait data, and systematic hypothesis testing to try to determine what factors may have caused this diversity in brain size.

Selected recent publications

Kerney, M., Smaers, J.B., Schoenemann, P.T., Dunn, J.C., 2017. The coevolution of play and the cortico-cerebellar system in primates. Primates, 58, pp.485-491.