Ella Williamson
PhD Student

Profile

Biography

I completed a Psychology degree at the University of York in 2018 where I became interested in social communication in domestic dogs, working closely with Katie Slocombe and Alex Benjamin. After I graduated, I obtained a PGCE from the University of Hull in Secondary Education and worked as a Mathematics and Psychology teacher within a Secondary School and Sixth Form for 4 years. Alongside teaching, I worked as a research assistant with Katie Slocombe and Alex Benjamin, working on a human-dog communication project.

Now, I have received funding through the ESRC to study for a PhD which aims to examine socio-cognitive abilities in assistance dogs and aim to assess potential relationships between assistance dog social cognition and success in assistance dog training, in the hope to better understand the cognitive profile of a successful assistance dog. I am also interested in the ontogeny of dog social cognition, dog vocal behaviour and dog sensitivity to human vocal communication in domestic dogs, such as dog-directed speech and language.

Career

• PhD in Psychology, University of York (2024-present)
• MA Social Research, University of York (2023 – 2024)
• Secondary Mathematics and Further Education Psychology Teacher, Hornsea School and Sixth Form (2019-2023)
• SCITT in Secondary Mathematics, Yorkshire and Humber Teacher Training; PGCE in Secondary Education, University of Hull (2018 – 2019)
• BSc in Psychology, University of York (2015-2018)

Research

Overview

Predicting success in assistance dog training for blind and deaf individuals: Is early sensitivity to human verbal and gestural communicative cues predictive of success in assistance dog training?

Projects

My project aims to examine the socio-cognitive abilities of working assistance dogs and examine potential predictive relationships between dog sensitivity to human social communication and success in assistance dog training. If predictive relationships are established, we would ultimately hope to use these findings to develop a socio-cognitive test battery which can be used by assistance dog charities to identify the most promising candidates to be put forward for assistance dog breeding programs and/or formal training.

In addition, no research to date has examined the development of socio-cognitive abilities in a non-working dog sample, hence, I also aim to examine the development of certain socio-cognitive abilities, such as dog sensitivity to pointing and human speech registers, in a sample of companion puppies and dogs, and assess whether there are any relationships between social cognition and pet dog trainability. Finally, I want to explore variability in dog vocal behaviour, which plays a significant role in dog-human interactions.

Collaborators

• Prof Katie Slocombe (supervisor)
• Dr Alex Benjamin (supervisor)

Teaching

Other teaching

• Secondary Mathematics, including GCSE (2019-2023)
• Secondary and Further Education Psychology, including GCSE and A-level (2019-2023)

Publications