About Tom Dickins

(Role) I am professor of behavioural science at the University of West London working in psychological sciences within the School of Human and Social Sciences.

(Research) I am interested in what behaviour is, biologically grounded explanations of behaviour, and the nature of those explanations. Empirically I work on humans and birds with a number of collaborators.

Human work has focused upon behavioural and physiological responses to inequality. This has included projects on early fertility in Western populations, hygiene norms and quality of life. Underlying all this work is an assumption that inequality captures important ecological factors to which humans will respond at various levels of biological organization.  I have also worked on applied projects to do with pro-environmental behaviour. For example, I have helped to design and deliver a behaviour change project in London to reduce fly-tipping, and I am currently developing a project with an international team about people's responses to climate change and mitigation technologies. Negative environmental impacts are closely aligned to issues of inequality, and so there is a common thread.

I work on Kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla) on Lundy, an island off the coast of North Devon, and in various urban settings. These birds are red listed on the UK list of conservation concern and vulnerable on the IUCN red list of threatened species. My principal interest is in the behaviour at the nest, and how this might vary under different conditions. How many eggs do they lay? How does parental effort vary? How do chicks interact? I am also interested in the physical properties of nest sites and the choices made there. To this end, the move from natural coastal cliff sites to urban nesting sites provides a fascinating research project. I do other urban seabird work and monitor avian biodiversity for the Corporation of the City of London.

My theoretical work is focused upon the nature of evolutionary theory and its application, especially in behavioural science.  Recent projects include a monograph about the Modern Synthesis, and an edited volume on contemporary and historical perspectives on evolutionary biology. As a part of this work I have developed a view on the role of information in evolutionary theory and I am currently working on how this impacts various causal assumptions in our models. I have also run projects on other aspects of theory in the behavioural sciences.

(Experience) I have worked at a number of universities in the UK, throughout my career.  My previous post was as professor of behavioural science at Middlesex University for over 12 years. Prior to that I worked at the University of East London for nine years. All of my posts have been in psychology departments and I have taught across the BPS undergraduate curriculum and supervised many M-level students and several research students. I have also taught for biology courses, most specifically on topics to do with evolution and behavioural ecology, and run graduate course in science studies. Service roles have included director of research, deputy head of department, acting head of department and innumerable committees.

From 2006 I was involved in the foundation and organization of the European Human Behaviour and Evolution Association. I have much experience of editing, reviewing, conference organization and public engagement.

(Other) I am not the only academic in the Dickins family, and I collaborate with the others.  More information can be discovered here.