Professor Leslie Aiello to deliver 2006 Huxley Memorial Lecture

Professor Aiello, currently President of the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, will speak on 'The evolution of humans and the human diet', reassessing her 'Expensive Tissue Hypothesis' ten years on in the light of recent research. The hypothesis suggested that there was an inverse relationship between the sizes and energetic costs of the brain and the digestive system, and suggested that this inverse relationship between brain size and gut size was a feature not only of humans but also of the other primates.

Professor Aiello will be speaking in her capacity as the Huxley Memorial Lecturer and Medallist for 2006, an annual honour made by the Royal Anthropological Institute to a distinguished scientist in the field of anthropological research. It commemorates Thomas Henry Huxley, a nineteenth-century British biologist who was an early champion of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. The award is the highest honour at the disposal of the Royal Anthropological Institute.

Professor Aiello's career at UCL spanned 30 years. During her time as Head of UCL Anthropology the department achieved top ratings in the government's Research Assessment Exercise and colleagues praised her abilities as a mentor. In her six years as Head of the Graduate School she was noted to be a persistent and effective champion for the School and the department, and she returned in June 2006 to speak at the opening of UCL Anthropology's new home at 14 Taviton Street.

The lecture will take place at 6pm in the Stephenson Lecture Theatre at the British Museum, Great Russell Street. All are welcome and refreshments will be provided afterwards.

Image: Professor Leslie Aiello

• Links:
• UCL Anthropology
• UCL Graduate School
• The Wenner-Gren Foundation