Dr Emily Messer

Dr Emily Messer is currently an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Heriot-Watt University. She is a primatologist who studies social cognition in children, monkeys, and apes. She completed her undergraduate studies in Biology at the University of Dundee. She went on to graduate with a PhD in Psychology and Neuroscience from the University of St Andrews in 2014. She then completed postdoctoral studies at the University of St Andrews, Heriot-Watt University, and the University of Texas at Austin, where she worked in cognitive, comparative, cross-cultural, and developmental psychology.

Broadly, interested in social behaviour, learning, teaching, cultural evolution, prosociality, and science communication, Emily explores how different social and cultural contexts influence innovation, learning and the transmission of information in primates. Emily particularly loves being in nature, surrounded by animals and engaging with big questions.