Culture evolves

The capacity for culture is a product of biological evolution - yet culture itself can also evolve, generating cultural phylogenies. This highly interdisciplinary joint meeting with the British Academy will address new discoveries and controversies illuminating these phenomena, from the roots of culture in the animal kingdom to human, cultural evolutionary trees and the cognitive adaptations shaping our special cultural nature.

Speakers

Confirmed speakers include Professor Luc-Alain Giraldeau, Dr Alex Thornton, Professor Susan Perry, Professor Carel van Schaik, Dr Simon Reader, Dr Dietrich Stout, Professor Naama Goren-Inbar, Professor Francesco d'Errico, Dr Marta Mirazon Lahr, Professor Stephen Shennan FBA, Professor Ruth Mace FBA, Professor Russell Gray, Dr Mark Collard, Dr Joe Henrich, Dr Luke Rendell, Professor Barry Hewlett, Dr Derek Lyons, Professor Gergely Csibra, Dr Hélène Roche, Professor Paul Harris FBA, Professor Andrew Whiten FBA and Professor Kevin Laland.

This meeting will take place at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre as part of a wider Festival of Science to celebrate the Royal Society’s 350th anniversary.

This discussion meeting is intended for researchers in relevant fields and is free to attend, but pre-registration online is essential.

The proceedings of this meeting are scheduled to be published in a future issues of Philosophical Transactions B.

Note that changes to the programme are possible on the day.