Personal Profile / Teaching Experience

I was educated at Manchester, Southampton, Cambridge and Open Universities. Previous employment in the department of Zoology, Oxford University and the Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge. I have taught maths and science at all levels from GCSE to PhD, specialising in animal behaviour and welfare.

Research Interests

My primary research interest is animal behaviour, in particular the interdisciplinary areas of geophysics / geochemistry and interaction with behaviour and ecology. I study the effects of lunar phases, seismic activity, water chemistry changes and geomagnetism on behaviour. My specialist area is the ecology and behaviour of amphibians. My second research interest is clinical animal behaviour relating to captive psittacine birds and improvement of their welfare. I am currently working on environmental naturalisation tools for captive psittacine birds in order to improve welfare and clinical outcomes. A more minor interest is the assessment of animal biodiversity through molecular methods, particularly in fragile ecosystems such as the Antarctic, and molecular evolution, particularly of vertebrates.

Some of the media coverage of my work:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8145000/8145125.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8593000/8593396.stm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/15945014

Consultancy and other Professional Activity

• Consultant, Unusual animal behaviour prior to large earthquakes.
• Consultant, behaviour "problems" in captive parrots and other caged birds.

Publications

Recent first author papers

Grant, R.A., Halliday, T.R & Chadwick, E.A. (2011). Amphibians' response to the lunar synodic cycle; review of current knowledge In press, Behavioral Ecology

Grant, R.A, T. Halliday, Newcomer, M. Balderer, WP., Leuenberger, F and Freund, FT (2011) Ground Water Chemistry Changes before Major Earthquakes and Possible Effects on Animals. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2011, 8(6), 1936-1956.

Grant, R.A & Halliday, T. R (2011) Cannibalism in Hyla intermedia tadpoles. Herpetological Review 42(1) p. 86.

Grant R.A. and Halliday T.R. (2010) Predicting the unpredictable; evidence for seismic anticipatory behaviour in the common toad. Journal of Zoology 281:263?271.

Grant, R.A., Griffiths, H.J., Steinke, D., Wadley, V & Linse, K. (2011) Antarctic DNA Barcoding; a drop in the ocean? Polar Biology 34(5): 775.

Grant, R.A. & Linse, K (2009) Barcoding Antarctic Biodiversity; current status and the CAML initiative, a case study of marine invertebrates. Polar Biology 32(11): 1629-1637.

Grant, R.A.,Chadwick, E.A. & Halliday, T.R (2009) The lunar cycle: a cue for amphibian reproductive phenology? Animal Behaviour 78(2) 349-357.


Collaborations and contributions

Allcock. L. (and many others) R.A. Grant. (2011) Bipolarity in marine invertebrates; myth or marvel. PLoS ONE (submitted).

Dettai, A (and many others) R.A.Grant. Barcoding and molecular systematics of the benthic and demersal organisms of CEAMARC. In press Polar Science (2011). doi:10.1016/j.polar.2011.02.002

R.A.Stockley, R.A.Grant, C.G.Llewellyn Jones, S.L.Hill & Burnett, DH (1994) Neutrophil formyl peptide receptors: Relationship to peptide induced responses and emphysema. American J. Respiratory Critical Care Medicine 149(2) 464-468

Burnett, DH Adams,DH, Martin, TJM, Liu, Q, Grant, R.A., Stockley, RA and Lord, JM (1994) Inhibition by FK506 of formyl-peptide induced neutrophil activation and associated protein synthesis. Biochemical Pharmacology 48(6) 1081-1088

Stockley, RA, Grant, RA, Llewellyn Jones, CG & Hill, SL (1993) Relationship of formyl peptide receptors to neutrophil response and chronic destructive lung disease. American Review of Respiratory Disease 147(4) A668-A668