Rate My Professor Ximena Nelson

Professor Ximena Nelson is an internationally recognised behavioural ecologist in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Canterbury. Her primary research interests lie at the interface between animal behaviour, conservation, ecology, and physiology, with a particular focus on animal cognition and the ways in which animal sensory systems interact with behaviour to shape neuroethology, information processing, and decision-making. More recently, her work has explored how behavioural ecology can inform conservation, pest management, and biosecurity practices. She typically investigates these topics using alpine parrots (kea) and jumping spiders as model systems.

Nelson serves as Associate Head of School in the School of Biological Sciences and teaches courses in animal behaviour and neurophysiology. She received a University of Canterbury Teaching Award in 2020. Her scholarly output includes numerous peer-reviewed publications on vision, animal behaviour, jumping spiders, and kea, with her work cited over 3,000 times. In 2024, she authored the book The Lives of Spiders: A Natural History of the World’s Spiders, published by Princeton University Press.