Julia Cissewski received a Master's degree in Romance and English studies and Economics from the University of Leipzig in 1998 and has been working since as administrator of the Linguistics department at MPI-EVA. Her administrative responsibilities include overseeing the budget and personnel matters, allocating office space, managing the guest program as well as providing secretarial support for Prof. Bernard Comrie. Her own research lies in the area of animal cognition and social behaviour as well as language evolution.