Profile

I use the knowledge gained from studying how animals work together to better understand human societies. I then take these findings and explain them to policy makers (like politicians, or the leaders of big organisations like the Bank of England). I try to help them realise how understanding more about human behaviour can help them come up with better ideas.

In practice, my research involves making models (doing maths on a computer), reviewing work that lots of other people have done and running experiments and surveys. Most of the experiments involve inviting members of the public to try to earn money by doing tasks which I’ve designed.

Here is a short video I made describing what I work on (and yes, that IS my light-sabre in the background!).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=on84keK3_ME

I hate getting out of bed in the mornings, so I don’t normally get up very early – that is one of the benefits of being an academic – you can (pretty much) choose when you work!

I’ll cycle to my office, check emails, do some work. Most days, I’ll also have meetings with the other academics who I work with. Every week I meet students and go to talks and often I travel to conferences. Conferences are great fun – they are always held in cool places (like next month I’m off to Miami!) – and you get to meet everyone from around the world who shares your interests and learn what everyone is working on.

In reality, this is what I spend lots of time doing…reading books and papers that other people have written. This is a picture of me in my office.