 Our research has been or is currently funded by NERC, BBSRC, The Royal Society, AXA Research Fund, The Centre for Ecology and Evolution (London), and The Royal Veterinary College (London), and can be categorised under four broad themes:
1. Social decision making and leadership
How does a group of individuals collectively decide upon a particular action, and when can a single individual steer the action of an entire group? To answer these questions, we study groups composed of individuals with very similar motivations (e.g. fish shoals, sheep flocks) or very different motivations (e.g. baboon troops), working in both the field and in the laboratory. We use our findings to inform conservation science (e.g. management of primate populations in conflict with humans) and also work with cognitive and evolutionary psychologists to better understand the evolution of leadership and decision-making of human groups. See an article about our work in New Scientist and a feature in BBC Wildlife magazine. 2. Heterogeneity and collective performance
What makes a winning team? Larger groups of individuals are expected to make more accurate decisions since they can draw upon information from many individuals, and may have an increased potential for diversity and specialisation of individuals. We explore how group size, and diversity of individual traits translates to variation in collective performance, and study fish and birds in the laboratory, and human groups in a variety of social domains. It is hoped that this research will be of use to those interested in maximising the performance of a variety of teams – from teams of humans in a corporate setting, to teams of autonomous grouping robots. See articles about our work in The Economist, and Discover Magazine. 3. Organisation of social interaction
We study the organisation of social interaction in time and space. This enables us to ask questions about how individuals coordinate their behaviour within a social group, but also how different groups (of the same or different species) coordinate their behaviour with one another. We then use this knowledge to understand how changes to the ecological environment (via natural or anthropogenic changes) influence social contact patterns and mixing in social networks, and consequently transmission of information and diseases within micro- and macro-populations. See our Special Issue in American Journal of Primatology on Primate Social Networks. 4. Developing interactive technologies
It is possible to infer certain rules or strategies that animals use in social settings, but unless we can manipulate the behaviour of individuals such research remains largely descriptive. Working with colleagues in the RVC Structure and Motion Laboratory we are developing apparatus for real-time tracking of social animals allowing perturbation of the environment that enables us to decouple behavioural strategies and individual payoffs. Our research is undertaken with collaborators in various institutions, including:
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Research: Overview |