Ruth Mace

• Tel: +44 (0)20 7679 8845
• Fax: +44 (0)20 7679 8632
• E-mail: r.mace@ucl.ac.uk
• Publications

DPhil, Zoology, University of Oxford, 1987
Elected Fellow of the British Academy, 2008
Visiting Professorship Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 2014
Visiting Professorship  Lanzhou University, 2016-2019
Elected President European Human Behaviour and Evolution Association (EHBEA) 2016-2019

Convenor of the Human Evolutionary Ecology Group
Principal Investigator of EvoBias
Founding Editor-in-Chief of Evolutionary Human Sciences

General Interests

• Evolutionary demography and life history, particularly empirical studies focussing on rural African and Sino-Tibetan populations
• Phylogenetic approaches to culture and language evolution, including comparative methods for testing cross-cultural hypotheses, and understanding the origins of kinship, family and social systems
• Co-operation and competition, within families and within wider groups
• Cultural transmission and the establishment of social norms

Current Research Projects

• Cooperation, conflict and social networks in villages in rural China
• Phylogenetic approaches to cultural evolution in sub-Saharan Africa, and in China
• The evolutionary ecology of reproductive scheduling and menopause.
• The evolutionary ecology of matriliny in China
• Family structure, parental investment and child development in the UK
• The cultural evolution of religion and witchcraft beliefs.

Current PhD Students

• Reuben Fakoya-Brooks (UCL funded) degree expected 2027
• Santiago Gracia Garrida (UCL funded) degree expected 2028

Recent PhD Students

• Erhao Ge (ERC), degree awarded 2024
• Yuan Chen (ERC) degree awarded 2024
• Olympia Campbell (ERC), degree awarded 2023
• Eva Brandl, degree awarded 2021
• Megan Arnot, degree awarded 2021
• Hanzhi Zhang (Graduate school funded), degree awarded 2020
• Sarah Peacey, degree awarded 2019
• Juan Du, degree awarded 2018
• Antonio Silva, degree awarded 2016
• Abram van Leeuwen, degree awarded 2016
• Matthew Thomas, degree awarded 2016
• Caroline Uggla, degree awarded 2015
• Emily Emmott, degree awarded 2015
• Nicolas Montalva, degree awarded in 2014
• Heidi Colleran, degree awarded in 2012
• David Lawson, degree awarded in 2010
• Shakti Lamba, degree awarded in 2010
• Laura Fortunato, degree awarded in 2009
• Tom Currie, degree awarded in 2009
• Fiona Jordan, degree awarded in 2007
• Eshetu Gurmu, degree awarded in 2005
• Mhairi Gibson, degree awarded in 2002
• Rebecca Sear, degree awarded in 2001
• Clare Holden, degree awarded in 1999

Books