Gillian Forrester is a professor of comparative cognition at the University of Sussex and director of the Comparative Cognition Group, investigating the behaviour and brain organisation of human and great apes. She regularly discusses her work in popular science shows, on radio and television, and in science podcasts. Her work has featured in such publications such as The Washington Post, Discover magazine and New Scientist. In her position as a popular science educator she has participated in televised interviews by the Royal Society, CNN and BBC regarding her research work comparing great ape and human development.
She is the founder of the "Me, Human" project, which engages in public outreach and education and advocates for women and girls in science, focusing on human cognition through talks and live demonstrations, using such platforms as Live Science and Psyched!
In 2025 she was Principal Curator of Science Futures at Glastonbury Festival.
Education and teaching Forrester studied in the United States at the University of California, San Diego, achieving a BSc in Cognitive Science and Psychology; and in the United Kindom at the University of Oxford, achieving a PhD in Experimental Neuroscience. Forrester was Professor of Comparative Cognition at the University of London, until 2022 and is currently Professor of Comparative Cognition at the University of Sussex.
Work Forrester works in the fields of cognitive science, experimental neuroscience as well as evolutionary and developmental psychology, studying the evolution and behaviour of great apes and humans. Forrester's work follows on from the ape and chimpanzee behavioural research and studies by naturalists Dian Fossey and Jane Goodall, with a remit to better understand human evolution and the development of language, bi-pedalism and tool usage.
In the science magazine Discover Forrester said: Humans have more objects and are doing more object-driven things. If we narrow down hand dominance in apes to tool use... we find apes are certainly significantly right-handed for tool use. Motor biases are seen throughout the animal world, all the way back to 500 million years ago and the emergence of vertebrates, and possibly even older than that.
In an interview with Mensa IQ magazine, Forrester is quoted as saying: We originally thought humans were unique in having parts of their brains dedicated to language. But natural selection doesn't really do that. We think that language was originally physical; a gestural system. If we want to dispel the fact that language is unique to humans, we need to show how it links to these older behaviours.
Forrester acts as an advocate for popular, public science communication, often appearing in mainstream science programmes to make science more accessible, as well as advocating for women and girls in STEM, and great ape conservation. In 2023 she was director of the Science Futures field at Glastonbury Festival. Forrester is the founder of the "Me, Human" project, which engages in public outreach and education and advocates for women and girls in science. Through this project, Forrester collaborates with the public to further popular science and to educate about human cognition through talks and live demonstrations via platforms such as Live Science and Psyched!
Media Forrester regularly discusses her work on popular science radio shows on radio (BBC Radio 4, BBC Local), and television (BBC, CNN, Reuters, BBC South East), and science podcasts (Level Up Human, BBC Crowd Science). Forrester has also written about her work in articles for such science magazines such as Psychology Today, Early Years Educator, and Autism Parenting Magazine. Her work has featured in The Washington Post, The Conversation, Mensa IQ magazine, Discover magazine and New Scientist and in her position as a popular science educator she has participated in televised interviews by the Royal Society, CNN and BBC, regarding her research work with great apes and human development.
Since 2019, Forrester has fostered public science engagement through mainstream contributions to television programmes such as Brain Hacks, BBC’s The Incredible Human Hand, and Puzzle Solving Great Apes; digital broadcasts, BBC CrowdScience; in radio on BBC Radio 4 Supersenses, BBC Radio 4's The Shock, and Speaking in Public; podcasts such as Level Up Human, Ecoflix, and Talking Apes; and news media such as The Conversation and New Scientist.
Public talks and exhibitions Forrester has contributed to include "New Scientist Live", Psyched!, London Science Museum, Royal Society's "Summer Science Live 2024", and music and science festivals such as Bluedot, Norwich Science Festival and the Glastonbury Festival, of which she was made the Principal Curator of the Science Futures field in 2025.
In 2025 Forrester filmed an appearance for two episodes of Horizon: Secrets of the Brain, as a consultant and guest, being interviewed by the BBC science presenter Jim Al-Khalili. In September 2026 she was the guest for BBC Radio 4's The Life Scientific, in which she was again interviewed by Al-Khalili.https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m003241p
Bibliography Peer-reviewed publications
Gaze Behaviour to Lateral Face Stimuli in Infants: Scientific Reports - Donati G, Davis R, Forrester GS (2020)
Evolutionary Motor Biases and Cognition in Children with and without Autism. Scientific Reports - Forrester GS, Davis R, Malatesta G, Todd BK (2020)
The Left Cradling Bias: An Evolutionary Facilitator of Social Cognition - Forrester GS, Davis R, Mareschal D, Malastrata G, Todd B (2019)
Progress in Brain Research - Forrester GS, Todd B (2018)
Slip of the tongue: Implications for Evolution and Language Development - Forrester GS, Rodriguez A (2015)
Behavioural Brain Research - Forrester GS, Pegler R, Thomas MSC, Mareschal D (2014)
Human handedness: An Inherited Evolutionary Trait - Forrester GS, Quaresmini C, Leavens DA, Mareschal D, Thomas MSC (2013)
Events Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition 2023
References
External links Me, Human - Official website Gillian Forrester - Official website BBC - interview BBC Sounds - interview New Scientist - interview New Scientist - interview Royal Society - interview Gillian Forrester at Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development