معرفی
Emma Vitikainen is a grant-funded researcher and docent in Evolution, Sociality & Behaviour at the University of Helsinki, affiliated with the Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research Programme under the Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences. She serves as a supervisor for doctoral programmes in Wildlife Biology and Interdisciplinary Environmental Sciences and is actively involved in the Helsinki One Health (HOH) initiative.
Her research focuses on evolutionary biology and behavioral ecology, particularly in wild mammal populations. Key interests include social behavior, cooperative breeding, reproductive strategies, prenatal and postnatal effects on fitness, and the physiological basis of animal emotions. She employs interdisciplinary methods, including thermal imaging, to study emotion recognition in species such as mongooses, rats, tigers, and goats.
Her recent publications (2021–2025) reflect a strong trend in understanding the social and physiological determinants of fitness and emotion in animals. These works span high-impact journals and explore topics like prosocial behavior in rats, cognitive traits in caregivers, and the visualization of animal emotions, demonstrating a consistent focus on integrating ecology, evolution, and welfare science.
She is actively involved in research supervision and doctoral examination, serving as supervisor, co-supervisor, and pre-examiner for several theses. Her current project, Visualising animal emotions using thermal imaging (2021–2025), underscores her innovative approach to animal welfare and cognition.
Scientific Activities and Recognition:
- Invited speaker on evolutionary perspectives on puberty timing (2021)
- Featured in 39 press and media outlets for her work on mongoose reproductive behavior
- Active participation in doctoral thesis supervision and examination
