Introduction

I am a biologist who combines empirical and theoretical approaches to understand how collective systems function. I am currently based at the RIKEN Centre for Interdisciplinary Theoretical and Mathematical Sciences (iTHEMS).

After completing my studies in Catalonia (Spain) and undertaking internships in Peru and Ecuador, I began a PhD as an experimental biologist at the Université libre de Bruxelles (Belgium). Immersed for four years among physicists, I developed a strong interest in mathematics and in silico models. I was honoured to receive two of the most prestigious post‑doctoral fellowships worldwide—the JSPS Fellowship (Asia’s top award) and the Marie Curie Fellowship (Europe’s top award). These awards led me to conducted research in France, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan. While my primary focus has been on insects, I have also worked with fish and carried out field‑survey work to investigate pollination networks. In 2021 I started to run an independent research programme—including student supervision—as Specially Appointed Assistant Professor at Tokyo Metropolitan University, a research programme I continue in my current position.

At iTHEMS, I draw on my experience analysing empirical data to build biologically grounded models that go beyond the classical assumptions of collective motion and decision-making. My primary research interest lies in understanding how behavioural diversity and ecological context interact to shape collective dynamics in animal groups. A central goal is to reconcile theoretical predictions, such as those from pace‑of‑life syndrome theory, with empirical observations (in the lab and in the field). More broadly, I am interested in how simple individual-level mechanisms give rise to complex collective patterns, and how these principles can inform disciplines ranging from behavioural ecology to bio-inspired multi-agent systems.