Cooney, Chris, Dr

Dr Chris Cooney

School of Biosciences

NERC Independent Research Fellow

c.cooney@sheffield.ac.uk

B82, Alfred Denny Building

Full contact details

Dr Chris Cooney
School of Biosciences
B82
Alfred Denny Building
Western Bank
Sheffield
S10 2TN

Profile

NERC Independent Research Fellow, University of Sheffield (2021-present)
Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, University of Sheffield (2019-2020)
Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Sheffield (2014-2019)
DPhil Zoology, University of Oxford (2010-2014)
BSc Biology, University of York (2007-2010)

Research interests: Our research seeks to understand the processes structuring large-scale patterns of biodiversity. As a lab we specialise in the use and development of phylogenetic comparative methods and large datasets to address fundamental questions about the forces shaping Earth’s biodiversity and the factors responsible for maintaining it.

We work on a broad range of macro-scale ecological and evolutionary questions, often using birds as a model system. In particular, we are interested in understanding the interaction between sexual selection and ecology in driving evolutionary dynamics within birds and across the Tree of Life.

Our key research themes include:

• The evolution of sexual signalling traits
• Sexual dimorphism, sexual selection and speciation
• The drivers of speciation rate variation
• Geographic and taxonomic diversity gradients
• The causes and consequences of species co-existence

Publications

Journal articles

Chen Y-C, Vendrami DL, Huber ML, Handel LE, Cooney CR, Hoffman JI & Gossmann TI (2025) . Genome Res.
Wiethase JH, Mostert PS, Cooney CR, O'Hara RB & Beale CM (2024) . Global Ecology and Biogeography.
Guillerme T, Bright JA, Cooney CR, Hughes EC, Varley ZK, Cooper N, Beckerman AP & Thomas GH (2023) . Science Advances, 9(43).
He Y, Cooney CR, Maddock S & Thomas GH (2023) . PLOS Computational Biology, 19(2).
Hardie JL & Cooney CR (2022) . Journal of Evolutionary Biology.
Price PD, Palmer Droguett DH, Taylor JA, Kim DW, Place ES, Rogers TF, Mank JE, Cooney CR & Wright AE (2022) . Nat Ecol Evol.
Hughes EC, Edwards DP, Bright JA, Capp EJR, Cooney CR, Varley ZK & Thomas GH (2022) . Ecology Letters, 25(3), 598-610.
Tobias JA, Sheard C, Pigot AL, Devenish AJM, Yang J, Sayol F, Neate‐Clegg MHC, Alioravainen N, Weeks TL, Barber RA , Walkden PA et al (2022) . Ecology Letters, 25(3), 581-597.
Cooney CR, Mank JE & Wright AE (2021) . Evolution.
Chira AM, Cooney CR, Bright JA, Capp EJR, Hughes EC, Moody CJA, Nouri LO, Varley ZK & Thomas GH (2020) . Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 287(1938), 20201585-20201585.
Chira AM, Cooney CR, Bright JA, Capp EJR, Hughes EC, Moody CJA, Nouri LO, Varley ZK & Thomas GH (2020) . Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 287(1938).
Cooney CR & Thomas GH (2020) . Nature Ecology & Evolution.
Cooney CR, Sheard C, Clark AD, Healy SD, Liker A, Street S, Troisi CA, Szekely T, Thomas GH, Hemmings N & Wright A (2020) . Nature Communications, 11.
Yusuf L, Heatley MC, Palmer JPG, Barton HJ, Cooney CR & Gossmann TI (2020) . Genome Research, 30(4), 553-565.
Navalón G, Marugán-Lobón J, Bright JA, Cooney CR & Rayfield EJ (2020) . Nature Ecology & Evolution, 4(2), 270-278.
Marki PZ, Kennedy JD, Cooney CR, Rahbek C & Fjeldså J (2019) . Evolution, 73(6), 1226-1240.
Wright AE, Rogers TF, Fumagalli M, Cooney CR & Mank JE (2019) . Molecular Ecology.
Cooney CR, Varley ZK, Nouri LO, Moody CJA, Jardine MD & Thomas GH (2019) . Nature Communications, 10.
Cooney CR, MacGregor HEA, Seddon N & Tobias JA (2018) . Proceedings. Biological sciences, 285(1889).
Chira AM, Cooney CR, Bright JA, Capp EJR, Hughes EC, Moody CJA, Nouri LO, Varley ZK & Thomas GH (2018) . Ecology Letters, 21(10), 1505-1514.
Afanasyeva A, Bockwoldt M, Cooney C, Heiland I & Gossmann T (2018) . Genome research.
Wright AE, Fumagalli M, Cooney CR, Bloch NI, Vieira FG, Buechel SD, Kolm N & Mank JE (2018) . Evolution Letters, 2(2), 52-61.
Cooney CR, Tobias JA, Weir JT, Botero CA & Seddon N (2017) . Ecology Letters.
Cooney CR, Bright JA, Capp E, Chira A, Hughes EC, Moody C, Nouri , Varley & Thomas GH (2017) . Nature, 542, 344-347.
Cooney CR, Seddon N & Tobias JA (2016) . Journal of Animal Ecology, 85(4), 869-878.
Brulez K, Mikšík I, Cooney CR, Hauber ME, Lovell PG, Maurer G, Portugal SJ, Russell D, Reynolds SJ & Cassey P (2016) . Ecology and Evolution, 6(6), 1637-1645.
Stankowski S, Cutter AD, Satokangas I, Lerch BA, Rolland J, Smadja CM, Segami Marzal JC, Cooney CR, Feulner PGD, Bicalho Domingos FMC , North HL et al () . Evolutionary Journal of the Linnean Society, kzae001.
Shaw KL, Cooney CR, Mendelson TC, Ritchie MG, Roberts NS & Yusuf LH () . Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology, a041427-a041427.
Babarović F, Cooney CR, Varley ZK, Nouri LO, Nadeau NJ & Thomas GH () . Behavioral Ecology.
He Y, Varley Z, Moody C, Nouri L, Jardine M, Maddock S, Thomas G & Cooney C () Deep learning image segmentation reveals patterns of UV reflectance evolution in passerine birds. Nature Communications.
Cooney CR, He Y, Varley ZK, Nouri LO, Moody CJA, Jardine MD, Liker A, Székely T & Thomas GH () . Nature Ecology & Evolution.
Price P, Palmer D, Taylor J, Kim D, Place E, Rogers T, Mank J, Cooney C & Wright A () Detecting signatures of selection on gene expression. Nature Ecology and Evolution.
Rombaut LMK, Capp EJR, Cooney CR, Hughes EC, Varley ZK & Thomas GH () . Evolution Letters.

Preprints

Nordén KK, Cooney CR, Babarović F & Stoddard MC (2023) , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Babarovic F, Cooney CR, Zinn T, Drobniak SM, Janas K, Kennedy JD, Nadeau NJ, Parnell AJ, Thomas GH & Burg S (2023) , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Babarovic F, Cooney CR, Guillerme T, Nadeau NJ & Thomas GH (2023) , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Chen Y-C, Vendrami DLJ, Huber ML, Handel LEY, Cooney CR, Hoffman JI & Gossmann TI (2023) , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Guillerme T, Bright JA, Cooney CR, Hughes EC, Varley ZK, Cooper N, Beckerman AP & Thomas GH (2022) , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
He Y, Cooney CR, Varley ZK, Nouri LO, Moody CJA, Jardine MD, Maddock S & Thomas GH () , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Yusuf L, Heatley MC, Palmer JPG, Barton HJ, Cooney CR & Gossmann TI () , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Cooney CR, Sheard C, Clark AD, Healy SD, Liker A, Street SE, Troisi CA, Thomas GH, Székely T, Hemmings N & Wright AE () , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Wright AE, Fumagalli M, Cooney CR, Bloch NI, Vieira FG, Buechel SD, Kolm N & Mank JE () , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

Research group

Jasmine Hardie (PhD Student)
Robert MacDonald (PhD Student)
Shriya Uday (PhD Student)
Joey Baxter (PhD Student, co-supervisor)
Cole Reynolds (Visiting Researcher)
Max Bullock (MRes Student)

Professional activities and memberships: • Associate Editor, Journal of Evolutionary Biology
• Steering Committee Co-Chair, ESEB Special Topic Network 'Integration of Speciation Research'

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School of Biosciences

School of Biosciences

Dr Chris Cooney

Journal articles

Preprints

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