Kate Buchanan is an avian behavioural ecologist whose interests span from mechanism to function. Having conducted her Ph.D. work on the evolution of song complexity, (University of London 1997) she moved onto 2 postdoctoral positions at the University of Stirling examining the evolution of visual signals, before taking up a personal research fellowship (Royal Commission of the Exhibition of 1851) and then a lectureship at Cardiff University. There she conducted a research program on the effects of early developmental stress and endocrine influences on songbird behaviour and neural development. In 2008 she moved to Australia to take up a position at Deakin University, where she now works. Her research remains focused around the mechanisms and evolutionary processes giving rise to a range of avian signals. Currently she has students working on yolk hormones, song complexity, development of avian immune function and development of the song control circuits.