Biologist named ‘outstanding’

A biologist from the University of St Andrews is among 25 top researchers from the UK to be honoured by the leading national academy of science.

Kevin Laland, a Professor of Behavioural and Evolutionary Biology, has been granted the Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award by the Royal Society.

Alongside just two other researchers from Scottish universities, Professor Laland’s award was officially announced by the Society today (Friday 8 February).

The prestigious awards are designed to attract scientific talent from overseas as well as retain respected UK scientists of outstanding achievement and potential.

Professor Laland, an expert in animal social learning and the evolution of culture, said, “Animals can learn from each other, but humans alone possess a culture that ratchets up in complexity to generate ever more efficient technologies.

Our success as a species, in colonising the terrestrial globe and exhibiting unprecedented population growth, is widely attributed to this capability for cumulative culture, underpinned by key capabilities, such as imitation, teaching and language. Impressive though the cognition of other animals often appears, there remains a vast gulf between our achievements and theirs, which demands an explanation.

My research is dedicated to comprehending this gulf by reconstructing the evolutionary history of human cognition, a topic that I study through a combination of experiments on humans and other animals, statistical analyses and mathematical modelling.”

“It is extremely pleasing that the importance of our research has been recognised by Britain’s leading scientific academy.”

Ends

Note to Editors

Professor Laland is available for interview on: [email protected] or 01334 463568

Note to Picture Editors

Images of Professor Laland are available from the Press Office – contacts below.

Issued by the Press Office

Contact Gayle Cook, Senior Communications Manager on 01334 467227, [email protected]

Ref: Wolfson 080213