Donald Wlodkowic

Professor Donald Wlodkowic leads an interdisciplinary research program at the Department of Biology, RMIT University, focused on the origins and mechanisms of adaptive behaviour, proto-cognition, and minimal intelligence in simple lifeforms.

His laboratory develops innovative experimental technologies and computational methods to investigate how organisms with minimal or absent neural complexity sense, navigate, learn, remember, and adapt to dynamic environments. This research spans diverse aquatic and terrestrial model systems—from aneural organisms and simple invertebrates to crustaceans and larval vertebrates—with particular emphasis on the evolutionary foundations of goal-directed behaviour, decision-making, and motivational systems.

Donald is internationally recognized for pioneering advanced behavioural phenotyping platforms for small model organisms, including programmable multisensory environments, biomicrofluidic systems, real-time AI-enabled animal tracking, and high-throughput video-based behavioural analytics. His research integrates behavioural neuroscience, experimental biology, computational phenotyping, and bioengineering to establish scalable, reproducible approaches for studying behavioural plasticity, learning, sensory integration, and environmental modulation of cognition-like processes.

A central focus of his current work is the development of rigorous experimental frameworks to operationally investigate proto-cognitive phenomena including baseline sensory preferences, habituation and sensitization, associative conditioning, memory retention across delays, and adaptive decision-making in evolutionarily ancient organisms. His laboratory is also developing next-generation AI-assisted tools for interpretable automated behavioural analysis and comparative phenomics across species, developmental stages, and environmental contexts.

Alongside fundamental cognition research, Donald maintains active engagement in behavioural ecotoxicology, investigating how environmental pollutants and stressors disrupt adaptive behaviours and proto-cognitive capacities. This work leverages ecotoxicological perturbations as experimental tools to dissect the mechanisms underlying basal intelligence.

Donald's broader research vision bridges experimental biology, artificial intelligence, evolutionary neuroscience, and philosophy of mind to advance understanding of the origins, diversity, and minimal requirements of cognition across life. He has extensive international experience leading interdisciplinary collaborations across Australia, New Zealand, and Europe, and is a passionate educator committed to modernizing bioscience teaching through innovative digital learning technologies.