Symposium: How STRANGE is my animal?

18 November 2025

Bernhard Voelkl

Christian Rutz Michael Webster Hanno Würbel

Various fields of research are concerned with assessing the behaviour of wild or captive animals, including comparative cognition, behavioural ecology, conservation biology, and the biomedical sciences. Behavioural research faces specific challenges, as many factors can affect influence the behavioural responses of the animals under study. The STRANGE framework was designed as a tool to detect, avoid, and report sampling biases. It stands for a thorough description of all those factors that can potentially influence the behavioural responses in animal studies, which are: Social background, Trappability and self-selection, Rearing history, Acclimation and habituation, Natural changes in responsiveness, Genetic make-up, and Experience. At this one-day symposium, the creators of the STRANGE framework, Michael Webster and Christian Rutz, will present the framework alongside other renowned experts in the field and provide a detailed roadmap for its practical implementation. Focusing on case studies, they will examine where bias comes from and how it can affect the interpretation of study outcomes. Following introductionary lectures on STRANGE, the symposium participants will be invited to join two plenary discussion rounds.

The first discussion round will focus on the practical applications and the question how to improve reporting protocols for behavioural animal studies.

The second discussion round will focus on how STRANGE biases affect reproducibility of study outcomes. In addition to these discussions, a collective lunch and a farewell aperitif at the end of the symposium will provide ample opportunity for participants to interact with the invited speakers, continue methodological discussions, and network.

Uni Bern (Hallerstrasse 6, room 205).

Travel
PhD students of the CUSO DPEE are eligible for the reimbursement of incurred travel expenses by train (half-fare card, 2nd class). Claims can be done online via MyCUSO when the activity is over.

Registration
CUSO members: Free

CUSO students: on the current webpage (orange button at the top)

Postdocs/PIs/others: please use the following link

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