Sanja Antonides, PhD

I am a neuroscientist with a specialization in animal behavior, specifically memory and learning. After finishing my Bachelor’s in Biology at the VU in Amsterdam, where I was born and raised, I followed the prestigious Master’s program Neuroscience and Cognition at the UU in Utrecht. I chose the track Behavioral Neuroscience (which does not exist anymore, sadly) and focused specifically on animal behavior and cognition, which has always fascinated me and continues to do so. My two internships included studying chimpanzee personality and friendships in two Dutch zoos, and studying factors that influence the mental and physical development of young piglets; specifically their memory performance over time. The latter turned into a research assistant and then a PhD position at the Faculty of Veterinary Science at the UU.

After finishing my PhD, I switched to teaching, as I love working with young adults and helping them figure out their passions and their future paths; both professionally and personally. I have been teaching since 2016 at several programs (Animal Health & Management, Nursing), and have worked at UCR since 2019. Since then, I have developed a new course Neurobiology to include more animal behavior, animal ethics and animal welfare topics in our courses. Besides my teaching job, I sing in several semi-professional bands and play several instruments, and I thoroughly enjoy collaborating with UCR students on music projects.