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Aiyana Koka Willard @aiyanakoka.bsky.social · 15d

First day of school, grade 33? (I think?)

Aiyana Koka Willard @aiyanakoka.bsky.social · Sep 3

I am soaking up all the beauty and nostalgia on this trip - it gets more and more the closer we get to Alberta. I come to the west coast most years but I grew up in Alberta and I haven’t been back in maybe 10 years .

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Aiyana Koka Willard @aiyanakoka.bsky.social · Sep 3

Yes! Here!

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Aiyana Koka Willard @aiyanakoka.bsky.social · Sep 3

I am on vacation in the place I grew up. I used to come here (meeting of the waters, Illecillewaet) everytime we drove through the rockies when I was a kid. At least once a year. Still as impressive as I remember it.

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Reposted by Aiyana Koka Willard

Tim Waring @twaring.bsky.social · Aug 21

🧠 Want to integrate cultural evolution into your course using award winning materials created by the field's experts, and get paid $2000 to do it? 💵

🚨 The Cultural Evolution Society is seeking applications for the ACE Teaching Innovation Awards.

🔖 Apply here: vuw.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

Qualtrics Survey | Qualtrics Experience Management

The most powerful, simple and trusted way to gather experience data. Start your journey to experience management and try a free account today.

vuw.qualtrics.com

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Aiyana Koka Willard @aiyanakoka.bsky.social · Aug 15

I complain, but I got not one, not two, but three (!) papers off my desk this week.

Aiyana Koka Willard @aiyanakoka.bsky.social · Aug 12

I love writing because I get to engage with so many other people’s brilliant ideas and read about cool research. I hate editing papers because I have to engage with my very familiar ideas and read the same thing 300 times.

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Aiyana Koka Willard @aiyanakoka.bsky.social · Aug 12

And somehow, there still are typos

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Aiyana Koka Willard @aiyanakoka.bsky.social · Aug 12

I love writing because I get to engage with so many other people’s brilliant ideas and read about cool research. I hate editing papers because I have to engage with my very familiar ideas and read the same thing 300 times.

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Reposted by Aiyana Koka Willard

Centre for Culture and Evolution @brunelcce.bsky.social · Aug 6

The Spirits and Sources folks attended the Goddess Conference last week 🧙‍♀️🪬🧚

lots of fieldwork 🏞️🔍, participant observation and ethnography 🧑‍🤝‍🧑📋🖊️, and community building 🌐🤝🏘️ as well as embodied experience 🙏💃🌀

@brunelpsy.bsky.social @brunelgradschool.bsky.social

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Aiyana Koka Willard @aiyanakoka.bsky.social · Jun 28

Obvs I would never give away Astrid for real. I love her. Most of the time. 🦇

Aiyana Koka Willard @aiyanakoka.bsky.social · Jun 28

Free to a good home. Will bring you live bats while you sleep.

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Aiyana Koka Willard @aiyanakoka.bsky.social · Jun 26

I have just started reading it, but I did find it out in the wild, amongst the shamans and other mystics, in our field site in Glastonbury (town, not festival). We were up for the summer solstice and hanging out with witches.

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Aiyana Koka Willard @aiyanakoka.bsky.social · May 23

I bought a new book! I am very excited to read it! @manvir.bsky.social

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Aiyana Koka Willard @aiyanakoka.bsky.social · May 5

Jumping a fire for Beltane in Glastonbury with @loraadair.bsky.social and @michelleakline.bsky.social. #BestFeildsiteEver

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Reposted by Aiyana Koka Willard

Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · Apr 16

Ayesha Ali from @brunelcce.bsky.social presenting on the importance of Spiritual-But-Not-Religious practices providing community for people in Glastonbury, including a slide with the first quote from a male witch I’ve seen so far at #ehbea2025

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Reposted by Aiyana Koka Willard

Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · Apr 16

@brunelcce.bsky.social graduate Nachita Rosun presenting research at #ehbea2025 on the cultural transmission of Spiritual-But-Not-Religious behaviours in the UK (about 20% of the prolific sample identified this way); collaborative work including @aiyanakoka.bsky.social

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Reposted by Aiyana Koka Willard

Centre for Culture and Evolution @brunelcce.bsky.social · Mar 12

Lovely recent CCE social in the *always sunny* London 🌞🤩🎡

If this doesn't sell us.... 🤷‍♀️

@loraadair.bsky.social @aiyanakoka.bsky.social @rebeccasear.bsky.social @nicolewen.bsky.social @michelleakline.bsky.social @matthewmgervais.bsky.social ❤️

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Aiyana Koka Willard @aiyanakoka.bsky.social · Mar 11

Come do a masters degree with the coolest culture and evolution group around!

Centre for Culture and Evolution @brunelcce.bsky.social · Mar 11

1/ 🌟📢 Applications for our MSc in Psychology, Culture & Evolution at @brunelpsy.bsky.social @brunelgradschool.bsky.social are OPEN for 2025/26 🎓 📢

Ever wondered how culture 🌍 and evolution 🧬 shape human behaviour? 🤔 This interdisciplinary program might be for you 🧵

Psychology, Culture and Evolution MSc | Brunel University of London

A research-intensive psychology master's course, allowing you to understand how culture and evolution can influence human behaviour.

www.brunel.ac.uk

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Reposted by Aiyana Koka Willard

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · Mar 5

If you’ve got $20,000 a month to spend on a “PhD level” ai agent, just hire a person.

OpenAI reportedly plans to charge up to $20,000 a month for specialized AI 'agents' | TechCrunch

OpenAI may be planning to charge up to $20,000 per month for specialized AI 'agents,' according to The Information.

techcrunch.com

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Reposted by Aiyana Koka Willard

Cultural Evolution Society @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social · Mar 2

🎙 Exciting news! Transmissions Episode 1 features Dr. Cristina Moya.

In this episode, we explore her fieldwork in Peru, and discuss how pilgrimage sites emerge and sustain themselves over time.

It will be out on YouTube this week—Stay tuned for the link!

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Reposted by Aiyana Koka Willard

Nicole Wen @nicolewen.bsky.social · Mar 2

1/ 🧵 🚨New paper!🚨 Cross-cultural research is expanding in the social sciences — but are we measuring what we think we are? Our recent paper argues that construct validity is an overlooked challenge, especially in developmental research. Let’s break it down. 🌍 🧠

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Construct Validity in Cross-Cultural, Developmental Research: Challenges and Strategies for Improvement | Evolutionary Human Sciences | Cambridge Core

Construct Validity in Cross-Cultural, Developmental Research: Challenges and Strategies for Improvement

www.cambridge.org

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Aiyana Koka Willard @aiyanakoka.bsky.social · Feb 27

Things I often think about: of places I have lived, people think of London as place with a violent crime problem, Vancouver as very unsafe in some places, and Austin generally quite safe. Austin’s murder rate is 2x that of Vancouver and 3x that of London. London is the safest of the three.

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Reposted by Aiyana Koka Willard

Will Gervais @willgervais.com · Feb 22

If you're considering grad school (:cough: outside 🇺🇸), @brunelcce.bsky.social has a Psychology, Culture, & Evolution MSc with absolutely top-notch staff. Plenty of expats to help plug you into UK life & academia, MSc -> PhD & beyond.

Stay tuned for upcoming announcements & feel free to email w/ Qs!

overview of our MSc programme

Fall: Quant Methods, Qualitative Methods, and a survey of the evolutionary human sciences

Spring: Cross cultural and evo methods, Cross-cultural psychology, Evolutionary perspectives on culture

flier for our MSc. Bowerbird bower and Delhi's Lotus Temple pictured at top. England's Lionesses (football) lower left. Chimps chilling lower right. In the middle is a pic of some cave art.

Text: How do millions of years of genetic evolution, millennia of cultural evolution, and years of individual experience shape human cognition and behaviour?

Come learn about evolutionary psychology, cultural evolution, human behavioural ecology, and cross-cultural psychology

What can you learn?
Foundations of evolutionary theory
Psychological building blocks of culture
Data analysis and visualization in R
Agent-based modeling
Field work and cross-cultural comparison
Qualitative & quantitative methods
Survey & experimental design

Research on:
Gender & sexuality; religion; morality; atheism; cultural learning; child development; ritual; health choices; conflict & cooperation; cultural identities; etcetera

Who are we?
Rebecca Sear (Director)
Will Gervais (MSc Programme Lead)
Lora Adair (Deputy Dir.)
Michéal De Barra
Nelli Ferenczi
Stanley Gaines
Matthew Gervais
Toshie Imada
Francisco Gomez Jiminez
Michelle Kline
Jordan Moon
Abbey Page
Nick Pound
Michael Price
Nicole Wen
Aiyana Willard
James Winters

Questions?
Will.Gervais@brunel.ac.uk

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Aiyana Koka Willard @aiyanakoka.bsky.social · Feb 14

I saw a talk on this project last year, and five stars, two thumbs up, just very cool, interesting, and utterly enjoyable science.

(unless perhaps you live is Sydney and are being outsmarted by trash birds)

michael chimento @mchimento.bsky.social · Feb 14

📣 preprint klaxon: New study with @dalmaijer.bsky.social @barbaraklump.bsky.social @lucymaplin.bsky.social where we take a closer look at the innovation arms race between cockatoos and residents of Sydney doi.org/10.1101/2025...

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Aiyana Koka Willard @aiyanakoka.bsky.social · Feb 14

It’s a great series, compelling, beautiful, amazing, absolutely not suitable for children 😂

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