Behavioural and Evolutionary Theory Lab

 
 

The Behavioural and Evolutionary Theory Lab is an interdisciplinary collection of individuals interested in how and why behaviours evolve. We are interested in behaviours and behavioural mechanisms, and their evolutionary function. We apply a range of theoretical approaches, from mathematics and statistics, decision theory, computer science, and physics. Particular topics of interest are currently the evolution of social behaviour, such as altruism and cooperation, and optimal decision-making mechanisms in groups, such as social insects, and in individuals.

The Lab is part of the Department of Computer Science, University of Sheffield, and is physically based in the interdisciplinary Kroto Research Institute.

Lab Members


  1. • James Marshall - Principal Investigator

  2. • Alex Cope - Research Associate

  3. • Jennifer Dick - Research Associate

  4. • Chelsea Sabo - Research Associate

  5. • Chris Quickfall - PhD Student

  6. • Juan Camilo Ramírez - PhD Student

  7. • Anna van Doorn - PhD Student


Former Members


  1. • Tom Cassey

  2. • Hector Zenil

  3. • Patrick Hogan

  4. • Lianne Meah

  5. • Thomas Schlegel

  6. • Angélique Favreau-Peigné

  7. • Radina Kalpakova

  8. • Bob Planqué

  9. • Pete Trimmer

About the BET Lab

Photo by Thomas Schlegel

Selected Publications


  1. • Seeley, T. D, Visscher, P. K. Schlegel, T., Hogan, P. M., Franks, N. R. & Marshall, J. A. R. (2011) Stop signals provide cross inhibition in collective decision-making by honeybee swarms. Science 335, 108-111 [PDF]

  2. •  Marshall, J. A. R. (2011) Group selection and kin selection: formally equivalent approaches. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 26, 325-332 [PDF]

  3. • Marshall, J. A. R. & Franks, N. R. (2009) Colony-level cognition. Current Biology 19, R395-R396 [PDF]

  4. • Marshall, J. A. R., Bogacz, R., Dornhaus, A. Planqué, R., Kovacs, T. & Franks, N. R. (2009) On optimal decision making in brains and social insect colonies. Journal of the Royal Society: Interface 6, 1065-1074 [PDF]

Research Funded by (Past and Present)