Growing an applied science of cultural evolution for a sustainable future

Jan. 2023 – July 2024

Rebecca Koomen, Principal Investigator

Timothy Waring, Co-Investigator

Vanessa Weinberger, Project Manager

Over the course of the following year, we will hold an open global discussion about the best ways to apply cultural evolutionary research, theories, insights, and methods to sustainability problems through policy, intervention and activism. We will hold a set of open virtual meetings to refine our global research agenda on this application process, which will culminate in a set of outreach materials and networks. This process will be refined with a small invited workshop in May 2023, and the conversation, materials and networks will be shared with everyone who participates.

Gender inequity and cooperative sustainability: an evolutionary, cross-cultural, and developmental perspective

Sept. 1 2023 – Aug. 31, 2023

Rebecca Koomen, Principle Investigator

This project is focused on cooperation, and aims to provide a first look at the social and biological roots of the interplay between gender inequity and environmental cooperation. The project seeks to answer questions about conditions most likely to foster our cooperative sustainability skills by exploring the diversity of social cognitive solutions for sustainability.

Specifically, it will explore the impact of gender inequity on our ability to collectively sustain shared environmental resources from three comparative perspectives: developmental, cross-cultural, and evolutionary.