Applied Evolutionary Anthropology Lab

Our team spans the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) in the USA, the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) and Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) in Tanzania. Along with the main team pictured below, we are regularly work with junior research at NIMR and students at UCSB. If you are interested in joining our team, please see the opportunities page.

David W Lawson

Lab director, Professor of Anthropology, UCSB. For more info see here…

Alexander Ishungisa

Research Fellow, MUHAS

Dunstan Matungwa

Research Officer, NIMR, Mwanza

Joseph Kilgallen

PhD candidate in at UCSB. Joseph is interested in .

Estelle Brulhart

Sophia Alonzo

Alumni

Lotty Brand

Lotty was a postdoctoral scholar in 2022-24, working on the social learning of gender roles.

Zhian Chen

Zhian completed his MA in 2023. His research focuses on social learning and parental care strategies.

Jitihada Baraka

Jitihada joined as a research affiliate in 2022-23, working on early marriage.

Susan Schaffnit

Susan was a postdoctoral scholar in our lab from 2017-21, researching 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.