Meet Our LEADERSHIP Team

vicToria L. O'connor, PH.D.

co-founder & co-director

      https://victorialoconnor.weebly.com/                     Twitter: @innova_tori
Tori studies welfare, behavior, and cognition in a variety of species, but mostly captive carnivores. Her dissertation consisted of work across seven facilities in the United States, and is continuing those projects in additional zoos. Tori is currently the Supervisor of Welfare, Training, and Enrichment at Bergen County Zoo. She earned her PhD in Psychology from Oakland University, her MA in Animal Behavior and Conservation from CUNY Hunter College, and her BA in Biological Foundations of Behavior: Animal Behavior from Franklin and Marshall College.

lisa p. barrett, ph.d.

CO-FOUNDER & CO-DIRECTOR

      https://lisapbarrett.weebly.com/                    Twitter: @lisapbarrett
Lisa studies individual variation in behavior (including personality and cognition) in a variety of species, including Asian elephants, zebra finches, and Texas horned lizards. She has worked with many endangered species across zoos to address questions related to basic science, animal welfare, and conservation. Lisa is currently a Lecturer at the Center for the Integrative Study of Animal Behavior at Indiana University Bloomington. She was previously a Post Doctoral Associate in Recovery Ecology with San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and a Postdoctoral Fellow in Animal Behavior at the Oklahoma City Zoo. Lisa earned her PhD in Ecology from the University of Wyoming and her BS in Evolutionary Anthropology from the University of Michigan.

Ellen Williams,
​BSc (Hons), MSc, Ph.D

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

                     Twitter: @DrElliephants
Ellen is a lecturer in Animal Behaviour and Welfare at Harper Adams University and is an experienced ethologist and specialist in zoo animal behaviour and welfare studies. Her areas of research expertise and interest focus on understanding the effect of managed environments on animal behaviour and welfare and identifying opportunities for mitigation efforts to ensure positive welfare. Ellen’s PhD research focused on identifying factors which impact on zoo elephant social behaviour and social relationships. This was undertaken at Nottingham Trent University. Ellen has a BSc (Hons) in Animal Behaviour (University of Wales, Aberystwyth) and an MSc in Endangered Species Recovery and Conservation (Nottingham Trent University).

MARIANNE FREEMaN, Ph.D.

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

​Twitter: @DrMSFreeman
Marianne is a lecturer in Zoo Biology and Animal Science at the University Centre Sparsholt, Hampshire, UK, having previously worked as Research and Education officer at two UK-based EAZA collections; Blackpool Zoo and RZSS Edinburgh Zoo. She has a varied interest animal research from behaviour and welfare to conservation science, research methods and big data analysis. Her involvement in ManyDogs and ManyGoats first sparked the idea to help establish ManyZoos. Marianne has a PhD in the development of camera traps for species monitoring and an MSci in Zoology where she studied nutrition and behaviour of captive colobus monkeys. She is the chair of the ethics committee at the Animal Health and Welfare Research Centre and section editor of Journal and Zoo and Aquarium Research.

meet our committees

Click on the committees below to learn more.
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