I have been enthralled by tropical nature from an early age. As an undergraduate, I studied natural sciences and took part in ornithological expeditions to the Peruvian Andes and the Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania. After graduating, I spent several months as a field assistant in India before starting my studies as a PhD student in Madagascar. After several months based in Peru during my first post-doc, I decided to make the South American avifauna the focus of my work. I am now developing a research group focusing on the evolutionary ecology, diversity and conservation of Neotropical birds.