Karri Neldner

Karri Neldner is a Research Fellow at the School of Psychological Science, The University of Western Australia (UWA), holding the Forrest Research Fellowship since late 2023. Previously, she was a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (2020–2023) and completed her PhD at the University of Queensland (2015–2020). During her PhD, she spent a year at the University of Texas at Austin through the Fulbright Scholarship program.

• Affiliation: Forrest Research Fellow at UWA
• Previous roles: Postdoctoral Researcher at Max Planck Institute (2020–2023)
• Education: PhD in Psychological Science (UQ, 2020), MA/BA in Psychology

Her research focuses on how cultural and social experiences shape children's learning, particularly moral development, problem-solving, and attitudes toward animals and the environment. She employs mixed-methods from psychology and anthropology, emphasizing culturally fair research tools. Her work contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals related to education and environmental sustainability.

Key research themes include cross-cultural studies of tool innovation in children, moral boundary formation, and human-animal relations. Recent publications explore moral decision-making and the influence of cultural contexts on creativity and ethics.

• Awards:
  • Forrest Research Fellowship (2023)
  • Dean's Award for Outstanding Thesis (2020)
  • Fulbright Postgraduate Scholarship (2018)

Current grants include a project on culturally fair frameworks for measuring tool innovation (ESRC-funded, 2024–2027) and a Forrest Foundation fellowship. She collaborates internationally on projects examining moral development and human-animal intergroup relations.