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. • Patrick Hogan - Research Associate

  3. • Hector Zenil - Research Associate

  4. • Thomas Schlegel - Research Associate (Biological Sciences, Bristol)

  5. • Juan Camilo Ramírez - PhD Student

  6. • Tom Cassey - PhD Student (Computer Science, Bristol)


Visiting Members


  1. • Angélique Favreau-Peigné (AgroParisTech)


Former Members


  1. • Radina Kalpakova

  2. • Bob Planqué

  3. • 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)