Jessica Oliva

Dr Jessica Oliva is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at James Cook University based at the Townsville campus. Her research interests include human-animal interactions and animal conservation. Inspired by her own experiences adopting a shelter dog, Bonnie, she completed a PhD at Monash University in 2015 investigating the role of the neuropeptide, oxytocin, in human-dog bonding and communication. She then completed a Post-Doctoral fellowship at the Institute of Research in Semi-chemistry and Applied Ethology (IRSEA) in France, investigating the efficacy of Dog Appeasing Pheremone (DAP) versus oxytocin, in dog social cognition, and the influence of human attachment. She is currently completing a Master of Science in Tropical Biology and Conservation at JCU. Before arriving to JCU, Dr Oliva worked as a Lecturer in Psychology at Monash University in Melbourne, research supervisor at the Institute of Social Neuroscience, and post-doc researcher at the Parent-Infant Research Institute. Dr Oliva is currently accepting expressions of interest for supervision of HDR students.