Simon Verhulst is assistant professor of Behavioural Biology at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands. His research interests have included ecological immunology, avian life history evolution and avian energetics, all with the aim to study the interplay between function and mechanism of behavior. In 2004 he was elected as member of 'The Young Academy', the junior section of the Dutch Royal Society. He has been an Associate Editor for the Journal of Animal Ecology since 2007.