Two postdoctoral opportunities in evolutionary anthropology at Duke

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Position Description

The Pontzer Lab in the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology at Duke University seeks two Postdoctoral Associates for research in human ecology and health. These two positions are:

  • Human Ecology, Energetics, and Climate: This postdoc will work as part of a team investigating the impacts of climate, physical activity, and market integration on water turnover, energy expenditure, and health metrics among the Daasanach community in northern Kenya.
  • Population Ecology Aging, and Health Network (PECAHN): This postdoc will work with the PECAHN group of research sites, part of the Duke University Population Research Institute, coordinating joint research efforts across sites, building the online shared resources repository, organizing PECAHN meetings, and developing and assisting with cross-site research projects.

Both positions will require self-direction and the ability to work effectively with other team members, undergraduate, graduate, and other post-doctoral researchers in the in lab. Candidates must have obtained their PhD in a related field prior to the start date.

Responsibilities for both positions will include collaborating on the development of research protocols, data collection and analysis, budget and supply management, manuscript and grant preparation, IRB and/or IACUC submissions, and the supervision of students and research assistants.

Both positions will provide the opportunity to interact with scientists across Duke, including world leaders in human ecology and global health in the Dept of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke School of Medicine, the Duke University Population Research Institute, and the Duke Global Health Institute. Both positions have full benefits, and salary will be determined based on current NIH scales. The initial appointment will be for two years, with the expectation of renewal for a third year pending positive performance.

Review of candidates will begin seven days after the job posts to Academic Jobs Online and continue until the position is filled. Start date is flexible, between January 15, 2026 and July 1, 2026.

Applicants should upload the following to Academic Jobs Online: a curriculum vitae, a cover letter, research statement, and contact information for three references (reference letters are not needed at the application stage). Apply online at https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/30783. Both of these positions require a minimum of a PhD. No paper applications will be accepted, unless specifically solicited. Questions may be directed to herman.pontzer@duke.edu.

Duke is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to providing employment opportunity without regard to an individual’s age, color, disability, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, race, religion, (including pregnancy and pregnancy related conditions), sexual orientation, or military status.

Duke aspires to create a community built on collaboration, innovation, creativity, and belonging. Our collective success depends on the robust exchange of ideas—an exchange that is best when the rich diversity of our perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences flourishes. To achieve this exchange, it is essential that all members of the community feel secure and welcome, that the contributions of all individuals are respected, and that all voices are heard. All members of our community have a responsibility to uphold these values.

Anthropology Postdoctoral Position at the Peace Research Institute Oslo

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Postdoctoral Researcher in Anthropology (2 years, full-time, research-only)
Host: Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), Oslo, Norway
Project: ERC StG Com2Civ (PI: Júlia Palik)
Deadline: 24 November 2025
Apply/Info: https://www.prio.org/about/careers/30

 

Role (brief): Conduct ethnographic fieldwork with former FARC-EP combatants in Colombia, including life-history interviews, participant observation, and social cartography workshops. Integrate qualitative insights into cross-method and cross-country theory-building within an interdisciplinary team spanning anthropology, political science, social psychology, and gender studies.

Opportunities: Join a leading international research institute with strong fieldwork, ethics, and data management infrastructures. Collaborate with local researchers and NGOs in Colombia. Present findings at major conferences and engage policy audiences (e.g., UN DDR community). Access broad anthropology and psychology lab networks in Norway, Europe, and the US. Dedicated travel, dissemination, and collaboration resources are available, as well as time to advance personal research agendas.

Qualifications (essential): PhD in cultural, social, or evolutionary anthropology (or closely related field); proven ethnographic fieldwork experience (preferably in Latin America); excellent Spanish and English; proficiency in qualitative analysis software (e.g., NVivo, Atlas.ti); strong collaboration skills.

Desirable: Research background in ritual, identity, conflict, or reintegration; familiarity with trauma-informed and ethical research with vulnerable populations; experience with behavioural or experimental methods; knowledge of DDR or veterans’ reintegration processes.

Terms: Research-only position, on-site in Oslo, with field travel to Colombia. Salary from NOK 769,893 (before taxes), with membership in the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund and standard PRIO benefits.

Contacts:

  • Project: Júlia Palik (PI) — julpal@prio.org
  • Recruitment/Application: Catarina Barbieri — catbar@prio.org | +47 916 94 674

Psychology Postdoctoral Position at the Peace Research Institute Oslo

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Postdoctoral Researcher in Social Psychology (2 years, full-time, research-only)

Host: Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), Oslo, Norway

Project: ERC StG Com2Civ (PI: Júlia Palik)

Deadline: 24 November 2025

Apply/Info: https://www.prio.org/about/careers/28

 

Role (brief): Lead survey design, piloting, and implementation with ex-combatants in Colombia and the Philippines; develop and embed a survey experiment; contribute to theory-building and publications across an interdisciplinary team (political science, social psychology, anthropology, gender studies).

Opportunities: Work at a leading research institute with established fieldwork, survey, ethics and data management support; present at international conferences and engage policy audiences (incl. UN DDR community); access broad lab networks in Norway/Europe/US; time and resources to complete ongoing work and develop new agendas.

Qualifications (essential): PhD in social psychology/psychology (or closely related); demonstrated expertise in survey design and analysis; proficiency in R/Stata/Python; strong collaboration skills; excellent English.

Desirable: Experience with survey experiments; field experience in Colombia/Philippines (Spanish/Tagalog an asset); trauma-informed work with vulnerable populations; interdisciplinary background.

Terms: Research-only, on-site in Oslo, with field travel; salary from NOK 769,893 (before taxes); Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund membership and PRIO employee benefits.

Contacts:

  • Project: Júlia Palik (PI) — julpal@prio.org
  • Recruitment/application: Catarina Barbieri — catbar@prio.org | +47 916 94 674

Evolutionary Psychology, Fifth Edition, by Workman and Reader

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We are pleased to announce that the fifth edition of our CUP book Evolutionary Psychology by Workman and Reader is now out and that the cover now has a lovely picture of a Golden Headed Lion Tamarin. These tiny primates are interesting for three reasons. First, they are seriously cute little New World monkeys which resemble gremlins (prior to turning into the bad version!). Second, and importantly, they show broad similarities to us in that they live in families where, in addition to Mum, Dad helps out and even the older siblings, with bringing up the youngsters. This is exceedingly rare in mammals where almost 99% of the males show no interest in their own offspring. Observing this level of male parental investment might provide evolutionary clues as to why human males also provide biparental care for their shared offspring. Third, and also very importantly, Golden Headed Lion Tamarins are, like most tamarins and marmosets, an endangered species. This is due to habitat loss largely related to increased urbanisation and deforestation. Sadly, and in common with other primates, we don’t treat our relatives very well. Readers and adopters of our previous editions will be aware that our approach is to make use of evolutionary theory in order to help improve our understanding of the main subject areas of psychology such as developmental, social, cognitive, clinical and personality. If you would like a different approach, then David Buss’s excellent Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science of the Mind considers the relationship between evolution and the human condition by examining various challenges such as parenting, kinship and reproductive relationships that our ancestors faced on a recurrent basis. If you want a brief introduction to the field, you might also consider Evolutionary Psychology: A Very Brief Introduction by Maryanne Fisher and T. Joel Wade. Happy reading!

Paternal investment and economic inequality predict cross-cultural variation in male choice

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— by Jun-Hong Kim

Over 95% of placental mammals are polygynous, with females bearing sole responsibility for rearing offspring. This stems from the reproductive characteristics of placental mammals. Female placental mammals are the default egg producers and are responsible for pregnancy and lactation. In other words, the default reproductive costs borne by female placental mammals are significantly greater than those of males. Consequently, female placental mammals, who invest substantial resources in reproduction, are choosier in mating than males. Males, meanwhile, strive to avoid missing reproductive opportunities and devote themselves to status competition to secure females.

However, human mating patterns appear to be the exact opposite of this placental mammalian norm. Human males are just as selective as females when choosing mates. Humans are one of the very few placental mammal species in which mutual choice occurs. Nonetheless, some societies permit polygamy. Even in those societies, though, polygamy is far removed from the extreme polygamy seen in some placental mammals (e.g. one male – multifemale polygyny in gorillas). Only a few upper-class men have multiple wives, while most men are in monogamous relationships or remain bachelors.

The most plausible explanation for this is that the cost of reproduction borne by human males is as significant as that borne by females. If one sex incurs higher reproductive costs, that sex will be choosier and more discriminating. Traditionally, female reproductive costs of egg production, gestation, and lactation have given weight to female choices. The additional costs borne by human males are 1) paternal investment and 2) resources, such as food, land, money and cattle, which can be translated into fitness. These costs increased as male contributions grew throughout later human evolutionary history (i.e. from 2.5 million years ago to the present). Sexual dimorphism in body size decreased, and male contributions to childcare also increased once strategic hunting began after the emergence of the genus Homo. Particularly after the advent of agriculture, men controlled farmland and livestock, making the resources they owned even more crucial.

This study sought to explore the factors determining human mutual choice. The conditions favoring mutual mate choice—paternal investment and earning potential—vary across countries and groups. Other factors that likely influence the direction and strength of mate choice include the operational sex ratio (OSR), which is the sex ratio of males to females present in the mating market at any given time, and population density, or the rate at which mate encounter each other. These factors serve as predictor variables in a multivariate regression, with the size of the cosmetic industry as the outcome variable, which signifies the degree of male choice. When there is marked variation in paternal investment and resources, I expect women to compete for potential good providers and wealthy males.

Across all statistical models, the economic inequality (i.e. resource variation) and paternal investment variables were the dominant predictors of the size of the cosmetics industry. OSR and population density were not significantly associated with the size of the cosmetics industry, which is contrary to expectations. In numerical terms, each hour increase in paternal investment corresponds to a $2.17 increase in per capita spending on cosmetics. Also, each increase in the income inequality index and the social mobility index corresponds to a $0.29 and $0.36 increase in per capita spending on cosmetics, respectively. Typically, paternal investment is a stronger predictor of the size of the cosmetics industry than the two economic inequality variables. This fits with the expectation that male resource variation (i.e. resource earning potential and paternal investment) would generate selection for male choice.

To check for independence, the clustering patterns were examined in two-dimensional graphs. Most statistical tests used in cross-cultural analyses assume statistical independence of data points; however, countries, cultures, and languages are not independent because they share histories and environments. If points cluster by location (e.g. cultures from one part of the world tend to have similar values) or relationship (e.g. related languages tend to cluster together), then the p-value and slope may not be valid. A simple first step is to plot the values on a map and determine whether they exhibit distinct spatial patterns. As shown in the three scatter plots, there are no clustering patterns.

In a recent study on sexy selfies (sexualized self-portrait photographs), which is also a proxy for male choice, Blake et al. (2018) found that the frequency of sexy selfies was correlated with two different indices of economic inequality. Also, dowry as a payment by the bride’s family and kin, which is a proxy for female-female competition, is highest in stratified and nonpolygynous societies. However, the influence of paternal investment on male choice was ignored.

In some species, females sometimes have exaggerated traits when males are responsible for parenting, or when females have large variations in reproductive success. Male choice is predicted for species with paternal investment. That is, the more effort a male puts into paternal investment, the more selective he will be in mate choice. However, this prediction has not been thoroughly tested.

Assistant Professor of Quantitative/Computational Psychology – Penn State

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The Department of Psychology at The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, invites applications for a full-time Assistant Professor of Quantitative/Computational Psychology. The position is co-funded by Penn State’s Social Science Research Institute.

We seek candidates who use cutting-edge methods to advance our understanding of complex social, cognitive, and behavioral phenomena–specifically in the areas of Cognitive Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience, or Industrial-Organizational psychology.

Follow this link for more information on the job and how to apply.

Assistant Professor of Archaeology – Penn State

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The Department of Anthropology at The Pennsylvania State University, University Park (https://anth.la.psu.edu/) invites applications for a full-time tenure-track position, at the rank of Assistant Professor.

We seek an outstanding archaeologist whose interests and skills are consistent with Penn State Anthropology’s integrative, scientific, quantitative, and empirical approach to studying human diversity. Specifically, we wish to recruit an archaeologist whose research record addresses the material manifestations of sociopolitical stratification, population transformation, human-environment interactions, and/or evolutionary variability. Methodological and geographical areas of expertise are open. We encourage applicants whose work can contribute toward collaborative scholarship within the department and across the university on initiatives focused on inequality, sustainability, human-environmental systems, and human health.

Follow this link for more information on the job and how to apply.

Assistant Professor of Anthropology in Human Reproductive Ecology – Penn State

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The Department of Anthropology (https://anth.la.psu.edu/) and the Social Science Research Institute (SSRI: https://ssri.psu.edu/) at The Pennsylvania State University, University Park invites applications for a full-time tenure-track position, at the rank of Assistant Professor.

We seek innovative social science researchers whose work focuses on the social and ecological determinants of reproductive health via field-based research using qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods. Candidates may work on topics including, but not limited to, reproductive outcomes, such as fertility or parental investment in children (e.g. breastfeeding, child mortality, education); reproductive life stages, such as puberty, pregnancy, or menopause; and/or the social and ecological determinants of reproduction, such as environmental risk, social support, inequality, healthcare access, or communicable disease. Penn State Anthropology prides itself on its integrative research and is interested in hiring a scholar whose work is interdisciplinary and/or integrates across anthropology’s subfields. We welcome candidates with interdisciplinary interests or training in fields including, but not limited to, demography, human biology, epidemiology, ecology, evolutionary medicine, and/or public health. Study population is open and could include nationally representative samples, underrepresented groups, Indigenous communities, or small-scale populations, and regional focus could be in the U.S. or international.

Follow this link for more information on the job and how to apply.

Ed Hagen awarded the Evolution in the Public Eye Award

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HBES Members,

I am thrilled to announce that our HBES President, Ed Hagen, has just been awarded the inaugural Evolution in the Public Eye Award.

The EPE Award honors outstanding contributions to the public understanding of evolutionary perspectives on behavior. These contributions positively impact our perception and understanding of evolutionary science by communicating accurate, evidence-based information and/or exposing and countering misinformation and misleading claims. Through social media, community blogs, academic outreach, or other forms of science communication, honorees have helped foster more informed and nuanced public discourse about evolutionary science. This award recognizes those whose efforts strengthen the bridge between rigorous research and public understanding, helping ensure that evolutionary perspectives are represented accurately in broader societal discussions.

For more information including details on award ceremony and lecture on October 24, please follow this link. And if you are in the Ann Arbor, MI, area, consider attending the lecture!

Submit your abstract for HBES 2026!

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Dear HBES Community,

HBES 2026 will be held in Rabat, Morocco, at the University Mohammad VI Polytechnic (UM6P) from May 13-16, 2026. This will be a joint conference with the Cultural Evolution Society (CES).

Abstract submissions for the 2026 HBES conference are now open. Submissions will be accepted until November 16, 2025. You will be notified whether your abstract has been accepted in early January, 2026.

For more information about the meeting and to submit your abstract, please follow this link.