Stöger-Horwath, Angela

The Professorship in “Zoo Conservation Science” is a unique opportunity to deepen my research in the areas of animal behavior, cognition, and communication, while simultaneously building bridges between fundamental research, conservation, and public engagement. I use modern technologies, including artificial intelligence, to better understand animal behavior and to derive management strategies and conservation measures. I follow an approach that integrates ex-situ and in-situ research: insights from wild populations inform the care and breeding of threatened species in zoos, while results from ex-situ research provide important guidance and methods for the study and protection of animals in the wild. Considering the massive loss of biodiversity, it is a central objective of mine to apply research findings directly to the protection and sustainable conservation of species.

• Animal behavior and behavioral physiology
• Animal cognition and communication
• Applications of machine learning in behavioral research and conservation

• 2002 Magistra in Zoology, University of Vienna
• 2003–2004 Research Associate, Schönbrunn Zoo
• 2004–2005 Maternity leave
• 2006 PhD in Zoology, University of Vienna
• 2006–2009 Postdoc and PI at the Department of Evolutionary Biology, University of Vienna
• 2009–2010 Maternity leave
• 2010–2011 Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Cognitive Biology, Head of the Saimiri Lab
• 2011–2023 PI and Head of the “Mammal Communication Lab”, Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Biology
• 2023–2025 Head of the “Mammal Communication Group”, Acoustic Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences
• 2023–2025 Head of the Core Facility Animal Care, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna
• since October 2025 Professorship in Zoo Conservation Science, University of Vienna