Professor Brian Klaas Inaugural Lecture
Tell us a little about your research…
I’ve been fortunate to work on a wide variety of topics in my career, starting with dictators, coups, civil wars, rigged elections, authoritarianism, and the breakdown of democracy, moving onto the overall nature of power, psychopaths, and how to design systems that attract better people into positions of authority, and most recently I’ve been working on contingency, chaos theory, complex systems, and the intersections of evolutionary theory from biological systems with social dynamics. My two current research projects look at the wisdom of apparent inefficiency as a source of unexpected innovation in nature—from E. coli to economic supply chains—and the evolution of sycophancy.
Why is your research important?
Well, I completed my DPhil - with a focus on authoritarianism and the breakdown of democracy - in 2015. Given the unfortunate state of the world ever since, it hasn’t been particularly difficult to make the case that such research matters.
What inspires you in your work?
Politics, when done well, is the art of preventing avoidable suffering. I hope to contribute to that. But on a deeper level, I think all academics just want to better understand a little slice of our world, and I certainly embrace that mentality.
What has been your most memorable career moment so far?
A serious one: testifying about my research for the Angiolini Inquiry, on how to reform the Metropolitan Police after the murder of Sarah Everard. A less serious one: arguing with Philomena Cunk (Diane Morgan) about whether bears have arms on the BBC/Netflix series Cunk on Earth.
What passions/hobbies do you have outside of work?
Running, SCUBA diving, reading, writing, travel, camping, and generally being in nature.
What book is currently on your bedside table?
The Light Eaters, on plant intelligence, by Zoe Schlanger.