Professor Beth MacDougall-Shackleton completed her undergraduate and MSc degrees in Biology at Queen’s University, and her PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton. MacDougall-Shackleton’s research uses the lens of host-parasite interactions to address key life history behaviours (dispersal, migration, communication, parental investment, and mate choice) in the lives of songbirds. A major current focus is the evolutionary genetics and ecology of immune defences.

When she is not in the field conducting research, MacDougall-Shackleton teaches the evolution and ecology components of Intro Bio to thousands of first-year students each year. She is also an Elected Member of the American Ornithological Society (AOS), Associate Editor at Animal Behaviour, Editorial Board Member at Biology Letters, member of the Centre for Animals on the Move (CAM), former Councillor and Membership Secretary for the Society of Canadian Ornithologists / Société des ornithologistes du Canada (SCO-SOC), and a proud former president of the University of Western Ontario Faculty Association (UWOFA).