In my current role, I am coordinating collaborations among different institutes and preparing proposals for upcoming calls for funding and grants at EU and Dutch national scales. Moreover, I am providing research support to colleagues in the animal behaviour group.

More information about Errol Neo

Biography

Originally from Malaysia, I obtained full scholarships to complete my bachelor's degree at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University studying Applied Biology with Biotechnology. I then furthered my education with a master’s in Ecology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and graduated with cum laude. During my three MSc internships, I examined energetic costs of eyes in springtails, conducted literature study on birdsong as mating barrier, and investigated whether zebrafish preferred a quiet versus a noisy tank.  

I continued with my PhD at Leiden University, studying how man-made sounds of different temporal structures affect the swimming patterns of European seabass. I also studied how the effects are influenced by various environmental factors and how fish habituate to sound exposure. Furthermore, I compared the effects of tank-based experiments with open-water experiments. After my PhD, I conducted one year of postdoctoral research at Wageningen University & Research, testing the efficacy of an underwater acoustic deterrent device on fish and exploring various acoustic features that could be incorporated to improve its efficacy. 

By the end of my postdoc project, I suffered from a burnout and decided to take a career break. Since then, I have managed to cultivate healthy mental wellbeing and forge sustainable support networks. Meanwhile, I was conducting workshops for corporate clients while learning new skills in various fields, including advanced data analytics. After several years, I decided to get back to academia to tackle challenging problems and provide research support to other researchers.  

Publications