Overview

I study the evolution of sociality and ask why social relationships are formed and how they are maintained. Within groups of animals, individuals differ in their tendency to interact with others and in how deeply embedded they are in their social networks. Investigating these differences allows me to determine the genetic and physiological causes of sociality, as well as its impact on Darwinian fitness. My research is centred on wild or free-ranging populations with long-term datasets that permit me to quantify inter-individual differences in sociality, relatedness, survival and reproductive output.

Much of my work is focused on a highly gregarious primate, the rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta), where I have provided some of the first evidence of the fitness benefits of sociality, showing that the infants of individuals who are more deeply embedded in their social network are more likely to survive, and females with larger families live longer. I have also shown that an individual’s position in their social network is heritable, confirming that sociality is under genetic control and is a trait on which selection may act. I am also currently (or have recently been) involved in projects on other social mammals, including vampire bats, elephants, dairy cows, and killer whales.

I am member of the Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour. Additional details about my research can be found at laurenbrent.com.

Latest news: Read my conversation about the benefits of social ties across the lifespan with Lydia Denworth in Psychology Today. Read my New Scientist article about the science of friendship, and watch my TED talk on the same topic.

Qualifications

2010: PhD in Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Roehampton
2005: Master of Arts in Anthropology, University of Calgary
2003: Bachelor of Science, Biology, McGill University

Career

2023-current Professor of Ethology, University of Exeter
2020-2023    Associate Professor, University of Exeter
2019-2020    Senior Lecturer, University of Exeter
2016-2019    Lecturer, University of Exeter
2016-2019    Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, University of Exeter
2014-2016    Associate Research Fellow, University of Exeter
2010-2014    Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University.

Research group links

• Animal Behaviour

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Research

Research interests

I'm broadly interested in the evolution of sociality. My research asks why social relationships are formed and how they are maintained. Within groups, individuals differ in their tendencies to interact with others and in how deeply embedded they are in their social networks. Investigating these differences allows me to determine the genetic and physiological causes of sociality, as well as its impact on health, aging, life-history, and fitness.

Research projects

Evolution of social relationships
Friendship is crucial for human health and well-being. People who are socially isolated have a greater risk of heart disease than heavy smokers, drinkers, and the obese, and halting social isolation’s ongoing rise is a growing priority for public health and political policy. But coming to grips with our need for friends and the consequences we face in their absence requires we not only look at how friendship is manifested in contemporary human societies but to its origins in our evolutionary past. To address these gaps, my group explores the contexts that drove friendly social relationships to emerge, the fitness consequences of sociality, whether friendship-relevant cognitive abilities reflect primate universals, and the reasons why evolution allows social isolation to persist despite being detrimental.

Social aging
We examine how social processes change across the lifespan along with the costs and benefits of those changes. We also work in collaboration with colleagues at ASU and NYU to establish whether social processes impact health outcomes and the pace of aging.

Social dynamics in the face of extreme life events
Natural disasters are increasing in frequency. Changes in social processes in the face of extreme events can impact information about the resilience of individuals, the maintenance of social behaviour, and the ultimate function of social relationships. Together with collaborators at UPenn, Lyon, and ASU, we are also exploring the neural and genomic architecture that supports social dynamics during natural disasters.

Research grants

• 2021 National Institutes of Health
  Effects of a major natural disaster on the pace of aging in a nonhuman primate model. R56AG071023
• 2020 ERC Consolidators Grant
  The evolutionary origins of friendship: A cross-species comparison and experimental approach
• 2019 National Institutes of Health
  Social modifiers of the pace of aging across multiple domains and tissues. R01AG060931
• 2019 National Institutes of Health
  Neurogenomics of Vulnerability & Resilience to Mental Health Syndromes in Response to Extreme Life Events. R01MH118203
• 2019 Royal Society Project Grant
  Ecological determinants of dynamic social networks
• 2018 National Institute on Aging Nathan Shock Center Pilot Project Award
  Social aging in a primate model
• 2017 The Leakey Foundation General Grant
  Living outside of groups: Pathology, social-exclusion, or adaptive strategy?
• 2016 The Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship
  Social dynamics and the evolution of cooperation
• 2012 National Institutes of Health
  Animal model of genetics and social behavior in autism spectrum disorders. R01-MH096875

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Publications

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Teaching

Modules

2023/24

Information not currently available

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Supervision / Group

Research Fellows

Postdoctoral researchers

Postgraduate researchers

Research Technicians

Alumni

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Office Hours:

Mondays 1400-1500; Thursdays 1600-1700

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