Professor Ashley Ward is the Professor of Animal Behaviour in the School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, at the University of Sydney, where he directs the Animal Behaviour Lab. He completed his PhD at the University of Leeds, United Kingdom, followed by postdoctoral research at Mount Allison University, Canada, from 1999 to 2003, and at the University of Leicester, United Kingdom, from 2003 to 2005. He joined the University of Sydney as an Associate Professor in 2007 and was promoted to Professor. Ward's research examines the mechanisms and functions of animal behaviour across ecological contexts, with a focus on social and collective behaviour, learning and information use, recognition and communication via sensory cues, and the integration of behaviour and physiology. Using fish as primary model organisms, his lab conducts experiments in University of Sydney facilities and field sites including One Tree Island on the Great Barrier Reef, Narrabeen Lagoon in New South Wales, and UK estuaries. Key themes include how animals form synchronized groups, make collective decisions balancing independence and leadership, acquire and weigh private versus social information, and recognize conspecifics through chemical cues influenced by physiology, habitat, and diet.

Ward has produced over 180 peer-reviewed publications, garnering more than 10,000 citations with an h-index of 53 on Google Scholar. His contributions to behavioural ecology are evidenced in highly cited works on topics such as immune challenges affecting risk sensitivity in mosquitofish, collective order in shoaling fish under predation risk, and social context influencing camouflage in cryptic fish species. He has authored popular science books including The Social Lives of Animals in 2022 and Sensational (UK edition; Where We Meet the World in the US) in 2023, exploring animal sociality and sensory perception. Ward's interdisciplinary insights extend to conservation biology, toxicology, psychology, and economics, enhancing understanding of group dynamics from fish shoals to human crowds. He supervises PhD and honours students on these themes.

Professional Email: ashley.ward@sydney.edu.au