Iain Couzin is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

scientist and currently one of the directors of the

Max Planck Institute Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (English Springer Spaniel), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of OBE) * Max (gorilla) ...

of Animal Behavior, Department of Collective Behaviour and the chair of Biodiversity and Collective Behaviour at the

University of Konstanz The University of Konstanz (german: Universität Konstanz) is a university in the city of Konstanz in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Its main campus was opened on the Gießberg in 1972 after being founded in 1966. The university is Germany's ...

(Germany). He is known for his work on collective behaviour in animals that aims to understand the fundamental patterns responsible for evolution of such behaviour in taxa as diverse as insects, fish and primates. In recognition of his work, he has received several awards including the Searle Scholar Award in 2008, the Mohammed Dahleh Award in 2009, the National Geographic Emerging Explorer Award in 2012, the Scientific Medal of the

Zoological Society of London The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity devoted to the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained the London Zoo, and since 1931 Whipsnade Park. History On 29 ...

in 2013, the

Lagrange Prize The Lagrange-CRT Foundation Prize is an annual International award created by the CRT Foundation with the scientific coordination of the ISI Foundation. The prize is awarded for scientific research in the field of complexity sciences, its appl ...

in 2019, and most recently the Falling Walls Life Sciences Prize and the

Leibniz Prize The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize (german: link=no, Förderpreis für deutsche Wissenschaftler im Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz-Programm der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft), in short Leibniz Prize, is awarded by the German Research Foundation to ...

in 2022.

Education

Couzin obtained his B.Sc. in biology from the

University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

, followed by a Ph.D. in Biological sciences, from the

University of Bath (Virgil, Georgics II) , mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind , established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...

in 1999 under the supervision of Professor Nigel R. Franks. He was then a postdoctoral researcher at the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

from 2000-2002 and a Royal Society Research Fellow at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

from 2003-2007. Couzin then moved on to faculty positions at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

and then the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, and subsequently the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in

Konstanz Konstanz (, , locally: ; also written as Constance in English) is a university city with approximately 83,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the south of Germany. The city houses the University of Konstanz and was th ...

Research

Couzin's work is aimed at understanding how collective behaviour in animals emerges, using a combination of fieldwork, computer simulations, lab experiments, and mathematical models. His work with army ants showed how they move forming traffic lanes that optimizes their movement and avoids congestion. His work has been featured on the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

TIME Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

, and

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Couzin, Iain Year of birth missing (living people) Living people British scientists Alumni of the University of St Andrews Alumni of the University of Bath Princeton University faculty Academic staff of the University of Konstanz Wildlife biologists Max Planck Institute directors