Zsófia Bognár cv

Zsófia Bognár is a PhD student at the ELTE Department of Ethology and a member of the MTA-ELTE Lendület “Momentum” Companion Animal Research Group. She joined to the department as a first-year university student in 2013 and was one of the key people in the Cognitive Aging ERC grant (Senior Family Dog Program) between 2016-2021. Her supervisor is Dr Enikő Kubinyi since 2013.

Her main field of research is the relationship between head shape and behaviour in dogs. She is looking for the answer to the question of why the popularity of brachycephalism (flat face) increases among pet dogs despite their health issues. An interview with the topic was published in Hungarian on the website 24.hu. She also studies the cognitive ageing of dogs.

She participated in the Students’ Scientific Conference (i.e. TDK; a student competition with scientific theses and presentations) as both a BSc and an MSc student. In 2016, she received an audience award at the institutional TDK, and she achieved 2nd place at the national TDK in 2017. In 2019, she won 1st place and received an audience award at the institutional TDK, and she won 1st place at the national TDK in 2021. So far, her performance has been recognized with a total of 14 awards and 11 scholarships. As the most significant recognition of her scientific achievements, she received the Pro Scientia Gold Medal in 2021 and was also awarded the title of Young Behavioural Researcher of the Year by the Hungarian Ethology Society. In 2023, she got on the Forbes Hungary 30 Under 30 List in the Science category. The interview conducted with her can be read in Hungarian on the Forbes website.

She has so far produced 9 refereed publications from her research (4 first-authorship), with a total of 147 citations. Her first first-author publication was published during her BSc studies. Her first-author study published in 2021 attracted considerable international attention, received more media references than 95% of all scientific articles, and the number of downloads exceeded 74.000 (Altmetric score 610). The research was also reported by the Daily Mail, NBC News and The Times. Zsófia has also presented her results at numerous Hungarian and international conferences.

She also won the ELTE ÚNKP Science Communication Competition in video and meme category several times. In 2022, she created a popular science video series about the work of the ELTE Department of Ethology with Rita Lenkei, Ádám Leéb, Tamás Faragó and Enikő Kubinyi. She was one of the writers and hosts of the series, the editor, and also the cinematographer of some scenes.

Place & date of birth: Dunaújváros, Hungary – August 5, 1993
Nationality: Hungarian
Education: Biology MA (2020)
Contact: bognarzsof@gmail.com
ResearchGate profile: Zsofia-Bognar-2 

Languages skills: English (C1, IELTS 7.5), German (B2 complex)

Studies:
2020- Eötvös Loránd University, Biological Doctoral School, Ethology Program, PhD student
2018-2020 Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary – Biologist (MSc), Ecology, Evolutionary- and Conservation Biology
2012-2018 Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary – Biology (BSc)

Professional experience and positions:
2021- Research Assistant, MTA-ELTE Lendület “Momentum” Companion Animal Research Group
2016-2021 Research Assistant, ERC Cognitive Ageing in Dogs

Professional awards and recognition:
2023 – Best poster presentation, 8th Canine Science Forum
2023 – New National Excellence Program V. Popular Science Competition, Popular Science Meme, 1st place
2023 – Forbes Hungary 30 Under 30 List, Science category
2022 – New National Excellence Program IV. Popular Science Competition, Popular Science Video, 1st place
2021 – Young Researcher of the Year in Behavioural Sciences (by the Hungarian Ethological Society)
2021 – Pro Scientia Gold Medal
2021 – New National Excellence Program III. Popular Science Competition, Popular Science Video, 1st place
2020 – New National Excellence Program II. Popular Science Competition, Popular Science Video, 1st place
2019 – Outstanding student of the Faculty of Sciences

Domestic and foreign scholarships:
2023-2024 – Hungarian New National Excellence Program scholarship for PhD Students
2022-2023 – Hungarian New National Excellence Program scholarship for PhD Students
2022 – Stephen W. Kuffler Research Scholarship
2021-2022 – Hungarian New National Excellence Program scholarship for PhD Students
2020-2021 – Hungarian New National Excellence Program scholarship for PhD Students
2019-2020 – Hungarian New National Excellence Program scholarship for MSc Students
2019-2020 – National Higher Education scholarship
2018/2019 spring semester – ELTE regular scholarship
2018/2019 autumn semester – ELTE regular scholarship
2017/2018 spring semester – ELTE regular scholarship
2017/2018 autumn semester – ELTE regular scholarship

Students’ Scientific Conference attendances:
2021 – National Students’ Scientific Conference of Biology, Cluj-Napoca, Romania; Ethology and behavioral ecology section, 1st place
2019 – Eötvös Loránd University Students’ Conference (TDK), Budapest, Hungary; Supraindividual section, 1st place
2019 – Eötvös Loránd University Students’ Conference (TDK), Budapest, Hungary; Supraindividual section, special award
2017 – National Students’ Scientific Conference of Biology, Debrecen, Hungary; Ethology and behavioral ecology section, 2nd place
2016 – Eötvös Loránd University Students’ Conference (TDK), Budapest, Hungary; Ethology and behavioral ecology section, special award

Conference attendances:
2023 – 25th Hungarian Ethological Society’s conference
2023 – Behaviour Conference
2023 – 8th Canine Science Forum
2023 – 3rd International Student Symposium on Animal Behaviour and Cognition
2023 – Universities Federation for Animal Welfare Conference
2022 – 24. Hungarian Ethological Society’s conference
2022 – European Conference on Behavioural Biology
2021 – 23. Hungarian Ethological Society’s conference
2021 – The 58th Annual Conference of the Animal Behavior Society
2021 – 7th Canine Science Forum
2020 – 22. Hungarian Ethological Society’s conference
2020 – The 57th Annual Conference of the Animal Behavior Society
2019 – 21. Hungarian Ethological Society’s conference
2019 – 6th European Student Conference on Behaviour & Cognition
2018 – 20. Hungarian Ethological Society’s conference
2018 – 5th European Student Conference on Behaviour & Cognition
2018 – 6th Canine Science Forum
2017 – 19. Hungarian Ethological Society’s conference

Major media appearances:
2023 – Forbes interview (Forbes.hu) 
2023 – Képmás interview (Képmás.hu) 
2022 – National Geographic 
2022 – Behavioural Biology For You - With You popular science video series (YouTube) 
2022 – 24.hu interview (24.hu) 
2021 – NBC News 
2021 – Daily Mail 
2021 – The Times

5 most significant publications:
Iotchev, I., Bognár, Z., Bel, R., Kubinyi, E., Cognitive and sensory capacity each contribute to the canine spatial bias, Ethology (2024) https://doi.org/10.1111/eth.13423

Bognár, Z., Kubinyi, E., The brachycephalic paradox: The relationship between attitudes, demography, personality, health awareness, and dog-human eye contact, Applied Animal Behaviour Science (2023) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2023.105948

Ujfalussy, D., Bognár, Z., Molnár, M., Miklósi, Á., Kubinyi, E., The difference between two brachycephalic and one mesocephalic dog breeds’ problem-solving performance suggests evidence for paedomorphism in behaviour, Scientific Reports (2023) https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-41229-8

Bognár, Z., Szabó, D., Deés, A., Kubinyi, E., Shorter headed dogs, visually cooperative breeds, younger and playful dogs form eye contact faster with an unfamiliar human, Scientific Reports (2021) https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-88702-w

Bognár, Z., Iotchev, I., Kubinyi, E., Sex, skull length, breed, and age predict how dogs look at faces of humans and conspecifics, Animal Cognition (2018) https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-018-1180-4