Research

I started to work at the Department of Ethology at ELTE in 1994, as a first-year student of biology. I wrote my thesis and doctoral dissertation on social learning in dogs. During my PhD I also worked on comparing the cognition of hand-reared dogs and wolves and on ethorobotics. From 2004 onwards, as a postdoctoral researcher - with OTKA and EU FP7 funding - my main fields of interest were canine personality research and behavioural genetics. In 2016, thanks to an ERC Starting Grant, I founded the Senior Family Dog Programme on cognitive ageing in dogs, and in 2017 the Canine Brain and Tissue Bank, which provides tissues for molecular research. In 2021, with the support of the MTA Lendület grant, I launched the Companion Animal Research Group, which focuses on the effects of dog ownership on humans and animals, and in 2022, as co-topic leader, the ELTE-NAP Canine Brain Research Group, which investigates the olfactory performance and neurobehavioural background of dogs and humans.

For more information about my current research groups, please visit the ELTE Department of Ethology website:

• Senior Family Dog Program
• Canine Brain and Tissue Bank
• MTA-ELTE Lendület Companion Animal Research Group
• ELTE-NAP Olfaction Research Group