Gillian Forrester is a professor of comparative cognition at the

University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...

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 (

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, BBC Local), television (

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) and science podcasts (Level Up Human, BBC Crowd Science). Forrester also writes about her work in articles published by leading science magazines: ''

Discover Magazine ''Discover'' is an American general audience science magazine launched in October 1980 by Time Inc. It is currently owned by LabX Media Group. History Founding ''Discover'' was created primarily through the efforts of ''Time'' magazine e ...

'', ''

Psychology Today ''Psychology Today'' is an American media organization with a focus on psychology and human behavior. The publication began as a bimonthly magazine, which first appeared in 1967. The print magazine's reported circulation is 275,000 as of 2023. ...

'', ''Early Years Educator'', and ''Autism Parenting Magazine''. Her work has featured in ''

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'', ''

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'', '' Mensa IQ'' magazine, Discover Magazine and

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and in her position as a popular science educator she has participated in televised interviews by

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, 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 The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...

, achieving a BSc in Cognitive Science & Psychology; and in the UK at the

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, achieving a

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in Experimental Neuroscience. Forrester was Professor of Comparative Cognition at the

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, until 2022 and is currently Professor of Comparative Cognition at the

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

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and

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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

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Media

Since 2019, Forrester has fostered public science engagement through mainstream contributions to television programmes such as Brain Hacks,

’s ''The Incredible Human Hand'', and ''Puzzle Solving Great Apes''; digital broadcasts, BBC ''CrowdScience''; in radio on

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

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'Summer Science Live 2024', and music and science festivals such as Bluedot, Norwich Science Festival and the ''Science Futures'' field at

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. In 2025, Forrester filmed an appearance for two episodes of ''

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: Secrets of the Brain'', as a consultant and guest, being interviewed by the BBC science presenter

Jim Al-Khalili Jameel Sadik "Jim" Al-Khalili (; born 20 September 1962) is an Iraqi-British theoretical physicist and science populariser. He is professor of theoretical physics and chair in the public engagement in science at the University of Surrey. He is a ...

Bibliography

Peer-reviewed publications

* ''Neuromethods: Hand, Limb, and Other Motor Preferences'' - Malatesta G., Forrester, GS (2025) * ''Journal of Sport and Health Science: International norms for adult handgrip strength: A systematic review'' - Tomkinson, Forrester GS (2024) * ''Scientific Reports: Motor-sensory biases are associated with cognitive and social abilities in humans'' - Donati G., Edginton T, Bardo A, Kivell T, Ballieux H, Stamate C, Forrester GS (2024) * ''SRCD: Social gaze in preterm infants'' - Davis R, Donati G, Forrester GS (2022) * ''Get a Grip: Variation in Human Hand Grip Strength and Implications for Human Evolution'' - Bardo A, Kivell TL, Town K, Donati G, Ballieux H, Stamate C, Edginton T, Forrester GS. (2021) * ''Gaze Behaviour to Lateral Face Stimuli in Infants: Scientific Reports'' - Donati G, Davis R, Forrester GS (2020) * ''Evolutionary Motor Biases and Cognition in Children with and without Autism. Scientific Reports'' - Forrester GS, Davis R, Malatesta G, Todd BK (2020) * ''The Left Cradling Bias: An Evolutionary Facilitator of Social Cognition'' - Forrester GS, Davis R, Mareschal D, Malastrata G, Todd B (2019) * ''Progress in Brain Research'' - Forrester GS, Todd B (2018) * ''Slip of the tongue: Implications for Evolution and Language Development'' - Forrester GS, Rodriguez A (2015) * ''Behavioural Brain Research'' - Forrester GS, Pegler R, Thomas MSC, Mareschal D (2014) * ''Human handedness: An Inherited Evolutionary Trait'' - Forrester GS, Quaresmini C, Leavens DA, Mareschal D, Thomas MSC (2013) * ''Animal Cognition: Target Animacy'' - Forrester, G.S., Quaresmini, C., Leavens, D.S., Spiezio, C., Vallortigara, G. (2012) * ''Target animacy influences gorilla handedness'' - Forrester GS, Leavens DA, Quaresmini C, Vallortigara G (2011) * ''Animal Behaviour 76'' - Forrester GS (2008)

Events

* Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition 202

References

External links

Me, Human
- Me, Human - official website
Gillian Forrester
- Official website
BBC interview with Gillian Forrester

BBC Sounds
- BBC Sounds interview with Gillian Forrester
New Scientist
- New Scientist interview with Gillian Forrester
New Scientist
- New Scientist interview with Gillian Forrester
The Royal Society
- The Royal Society interview with Gillian Forrester {{DEFAULTSORT:Forrester, Gillian 20th-century British biologists 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century British biologists 21st-century American non-fiction writers Academics of the University of Sussex Alumni of University College, Oxford Atheist feminists British zoologists British education activists American biologists American feminists American humanists American science writers Ethologists British evolutionary biologists Evolutionary psychologists Fellows of University College, Oxford Genetics education Living people British feminists New College of the Humanities Psychology writers Science activists Secular humanists University of California, Berkeley faculty