Our lab is based at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), with members spanning UCSB and collaborating institutions. If you are interested in joining our team, please see the opportunities page.
Applied Evolutionary Anthropology Lab
Dunstan Matungwa
Research Officer, NIMR.
Dunstan is a Senior Research Officer at the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) in Tanzania. We work together on field research and on advancing equity in cross-national research.
Joseph Kilgallen
Research Fellow, Movember.
Joseph completed his PhD in 2025 working on gender norms in Tanzania. We are now collaborating together to understand the role of social norms in men’s health seeking behavior.
Sophia Alonzo
MA/PhD student, UCSB.
Sophia is interested in adolescence and girlhood, life history strategies, kinship and social support, gendered relationships, and global health from an evolutionary perspective.
Zhian Chen
Research Affiliate
Zhian completed his MA in Anthropology in our lab (2023). We continue to work together on cultural evolutionary approaches to norm misperception and AI-mediated social learning.
Alumni
Lotty Brand
Lotty was a postdoctoral scholar in lab (2022-24), working on the social learning of gender roles.
Alex Ishungisa
Alex was a postdoctoral scholar in our lab (2022-24), working on the social learning of gender roles.
Jitihada Baraka
Jitihada joined as a research affiliate (2022-23), working on early marriage.
Susan Schaffnit
Susan was a postdoctoral scholar in our lab (2017-21), working on early marriage.
Anushé Hassan
Anushé completed her PhD in 2021. Her thesis addressed alloparenting and child health.
Sophie Hedges
Sophie completed her PhD in 2019. Her work addressed trade-offs between children’s work and education.