Victor Renaud

Victor Renaud

PhD student, project staff

Hellbrunnerstrasse 34, 5020 Salzburg

Tel.: +43(0)662 80445990

E-Mail: 

Room: D-2.037


Research interest

  • Evolution and fixation of animal behaviours
  • Behavioural ecology of cooperative breeders
  • Conservation biology
  • Predation ecology of afrotropical forest systems in a context of global changes

Curriculum vitae

Professional experience

  • 02/2025 – 12/2025: University of Salzburg, Austria; non-scientific assistant (research assistant) in the Department of Environment & Biodiversity (project: “Greenbul project”).
  • 07/2024 – 12/2024: Wageningen University and Research, The Netherlands, fieldwork assistant in the Behavioural Ecology Group (project: “Social Savannah”)

Education and training

  • 2025 – to date: University of Salzburg, Austria; Doctoral studies (PhD) in natural sciences at the Faculty of Natural and Life Sciences
  • 02/2024 – 06/2024: University of Rennes, France; Vrije University Amsterdam, the Netherlands & Wageningen University and Research, the Netherlands; Master thesis: “Disentangling the hunting success of one of the most efficient marine predators, Pterois miles, in a context of invasive spreading”
  • 2022 – 2024: University of Rennes, France; Vrije University Amsterdam, The Netherlands, International Master of Biodiversity, Ecology & Evolution
  • 2019 – 2022: University of Rennes & University of Eastern Finland, Bachelor of Life Science and Organism Biology

Grants and Awards

  • 2024: Awarded a runner up prize from the BHE Tinbergen Thesis prize – Wageningen University and Research
  • 2023/2024: Awarded a financial support from Erasmus+ EU funds for a year in the Netherlands
  • 2023: Awarded a “scholarship of Excellence” for an international internship by the University of Rennes foundation, to pursue a 3 months internship in bird ecology, Gotland, Sweden
  • 2021/2022: Awarded a financial support from Erasmus+ EU funds for a year in Finland

Affiliations

  • National Museum of Kenya (NMK)
  • Society for Tropical Ecology (GTÖ)

Computer skills

  • General frequentist statistics, multivariate modelling, Bayesian statistics
  • Computer vision modelling (YOLO framework)
  • Spatial exploration (R/QGIS/ArcGIS)
  • Numeric editing (Adobe LRc, Ps, Pr, Ai; Inkscape)

Language skills

  • English (fluent)
  • French (native)
  • Spanish (LV2)

Publications

Bottacini D, Noordman C, Renaud V, Skouradakis G, Dailianis T, Mastoraki M, Chatzifotis S, Kotrschal A (2025) Camouflage in a moving predator: testing for background choice in stalking lionfish (Pterois miles). Royal Society Open Science 12 (12): 250836.  https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.250836