# Gillian Forrester

Gillian Forrester is a professor of Comparative Cognition at the University of Sussex and director of the Comparative Cognition Group known for investigating the behaviour and brain organisation of human and non-human apes, the work of which Forrester regularly discusses in appearances on popular science shows on radio (BBC Radio 4, BBC Local), television (BBC, CNN, Reuters, BBC South East) and science podcasts (Level Up Human, BBC Crowd Science). Forrester also writes about her work in articles published by leading science magazines: Discover Magazine, Psychology Today, Early Years Educator, and Autism Parenting Magazine. Her work has featured in The Washington Post, The Conversation, Mensa IQ magazine, Discover Magazine and New Scientist and in her position as a popular science educator she has participated in televised interviews by The Royal Society, CNN and the BBC regarding her research work with The Great Apes and human development.
Forrester is the founder of the ‘Me, Human’ project, which engages in public outreach and education and advocates for women and girls in science. Through this project, Forrester collaborates with the public to further popular science and to educate about human cognition through talks and live demonstrations via platforms such as Live Science and Psyched!

## Education

Forrester studied in the United States at the University of California, San Diego, achieving a BSc in Cognitive Science & Psychology; and in the UK at the University of Oxford, achieving a PhD in Experimental Neuroscience. Forrester was Professor of Comparative Cognition at the University of London, until 2022 and is currently Professor of Comparative Cognition at the University of Sussex.

## Work

Forrester works in the fields of cognitive science, experimental neuroscience and evolutionary, and developmental psychology, studying the evolution and behaviour of both the Great Apes and humans, through the study of human beings and other species. Forrester's work follows on from the ape and chimpanzee behavioural research and studies of the naturalists Dian Fossey and Jane Goodall with a remit to better understand human evolution and the development of speech, bi-pedalism and tool usage.
In the science magazine, Discover, Forrester states,
   'Humans have more objects and are doing more object-driven things. If we narrow down hand dominance in apes to tool use... we find apes are certainly significantly right-handed for tool use. Motor biases are seen throughout the animal world, all the way back to 500 million years ago and the emergence of vertebrates, and possibly even older than that.'
In an interview with Mensa magazine, IQ, Forrester is quoted,
   'We originally thought humans were unique in having parts of their brains dedicated to language. But natural selection doesn't really do that. We think that language was originally physical; a gestural system. If we want to dispel the fact that language is unique to humans, we need to show how it links to these older behaviours.'
Forrester acts as an advocate for popular, public science communication, often appearing in mainstream science programmes to make science more accessible, as well as advocating for women and girls in STEM, and great ape conservation. In 2023 she was made director of the Science Futures field at Glastonbury Festival.

## Media

Since 2019, Forrester has fostered public science engagement through mainstream contributions to television programmes such as Brain Hacks, BBC’s The Incredible Human Hand, and Puzzle Solving Great Apes; digital broadcasts, BBC CrowdScience; in radio on BBC Radio 4 Supersenses, BBC Radio 4's The Shock, and Speaking in Public; podcasts such as Level Up Human, Ecoflix, and Talking Apes; and news media such as The Conversation and New Scientist.
Public talks and exhibitions Forrester has contributed to include New Scientist Live, Psyched!, The London Science Museum, Royal Society 'Summer Science Live 2024', and music and science festivals such as Bluedot, Norwich Science Festival and the Science Futures field at Glastonbury.
In 2025, Forrester filmed an appearance for two episodes of Horizon: Secrets of the Brain, as a consultant and guest, being interviewed by the BBC science presenter Jim Al-Khalili.