Dr Philippa Brakes is a behavioural ecologist. Her research on social learning and culture in cetaceans and other non-humans uses a combination of theoretical and empirical techniques to explore how these processes influence conservation and welfare outcomes. She specialises on marine mammals but has worked with a wide range of vertebrate taxa and is also interested in how human perceptions of wildlife vary across human cultures. She is a Research Fellow with Whale and Dolphin Conservation, Honorary Lecturer at the University of Exeter and has been spearheading the work on animal culture and conservation since 2014 through the UNEP Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, where she is the Chair of the Expert Group on Animal Culture and Social Complexity. She is also interested in how information shared across human populations can influence change and is an active member of the IOC-UNESCO Strategic Oceans Communications Chapter on Messengers and Messaging and a member of the IUCN Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy Oceania Region.