CV
I am a behavioural ecologist working at the interface of theoretical ecology and complex systems science. My research combines tools from multiple disciplines to uncover the drivers of collective phenomena and to identify the mechanisms that sustain diversity at group and ecosystem levels.
I graduated in Biology at the Universitat de Girona and later specialised in Biodiversity at the Universitat de Barcelona. I completed a PhD in Science at the Université libre de Bruxelles. Along the way, I’ve been fortunate to take part in the Marie Skłodowska-Curie and JSPS Postdoctoral programmes, to be involved in a National Geographic project, and to follow research paths that have taken me through Spain, Ecuador, Peru, France, Belgium, the USA, England, and Japan.
I am currently a postdoctoral researcher at the RIKEN Center for Interdisciplinary Theoretical and Mathematical Sciences (iTHEMS, Japan) and a part-time lecturer at the University of Tokyo.
Short list of conferences
- Planas-Sitjà I & Ioannou CC (2025). State-behaviour feedbacks between boldness and food intake shape individual escape response in fish. 72nd Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of Japan, Sapporo, Japan
- Planas-Sitjà I (2024). Exploring the efficiency of collective dynamics in social insects. SWARM 2024: 8th International symposium on swarm behavior and bio-inspired robotics. Session ‘Systems Ethology: Toward Elucidating the Design Principles of Animal Behavior’. Kyoto, Japan
- Planas-Sitjà I (2024). Functional benefits of behavioural diversity for group performance. International Ethology Conference, symposium ‘Behavioural diversity: Causes and Consequences’, Kyoto, Japan
- Planas-Sitjà I & Cronin AL (2023). Including habitat heterogeneity and competition-colonisation trade-off in a model to predict biodiversity. 13th ANeT (International Network for the Study of Asian Ants) Meeting, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
- Planas-Sitjà I, Calvo-Martín M, Nicolis SC, and Deneubourg JL (2019). Social interactions and environmental conditions lead to opposite preferences between individuals and groups. ASAB, Konstanz, Germany
- Planas-Sitjà I, Monnin T, Loeuille N and Cronin AL (2019). A spatially-explicit model sheds new light on the evolution of ant reproductive strategies. International Unit for the Study of Social Insects – Société Française (IUSSI-SF), Avignon, France
- Planas-Sitjà I, Laurent Salazar MO, Deneubourg JL, Sempo G. (2015) Personality in the American cockroach: Why bother? Colloque national of Société française pour l’étude du comportement animal (SFECA), Strasburg, France
- Planas-Sitjà I, Deneubourg JL, Sempo G (2014). Idiosyncrasy effects on collective behaviour in cockroach Periplaneta americana. International Unit for the Study of Social Insects (IUSSI), Cairns, Australia
Teaching and student supervision
- Worked as an assistant professor for 3 years.
- Experience teaching lectures in statistics, ecology, evolution, and animal behaviour.
- Experience supervising undergraduate and graduate students.