Rachel Kendal
@rachkendal.bsky.social
2.3K followers 420 following 38 posts
Interested in cultural evolution, evolutionary anthropology, psychology, primatology, equitable academia, cats, dogs, wild swimming and camping. Prof at Durham Uni, UK (she/her)
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Reposted by Rachel Kendal
rebeccasear.bsky.social
Standing up for science is one way to push back against political attacks on the university sector 👇 Experts in biology and anthropology have put together this statement to counter misinformation about race. Please consider signing and sharing
stacyfarina.bsky.social
Trump's very first example of the Smithsonian's "corrosive ideology" was an exhibit that correctly stated "Race is a human invention." How is scientific consensus (that biological races don't exist in humans) corrosive? We are asking scientists to co-sign our statement: forms.gle/kqKQF9CZ3jPB...
Reposted by Rachel Kendal
culturalevolsoc.bsky.social
We are delighted to announce that the CES2026 conference website is now live! We invite you to submit your presentation proposals using the link on the webpage, deadline November 16th:
airess.fgses-um6p.ma/ces2026
Cultural Evolution Society 2026 Conference | Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique - FGSES
airess.fgses-um6p.ma
Reposted by Rachel Kendal
haneuljang.bsky.social
💙New paper!💙

How is knowledge transmitted across generations in a foraging society?

With @danielredhead.bsky.social
we found: In BaYaka foragers, long-term skills pass in smaller, sparser networks, while short-term food info circulates broadly & reciprocally

academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
Transmission networks of long-term and short-term knowledge in a foraging society
Abstract. Cultural transmission across generations is key to cumulative cultural evolution. While several mechanisms—such as vertical, horizontal, and obli
academic.oup.com
Reposted by Rachel Kendal
durhamdcerc.bsky.social
Apply now to study at Durham! Not only would you be working with Sheina or Lynda, both fantastic scholars, but you'd be part of a department with a thriving PGR community, and a member of DCERC!
sheinalew.bsky.social
@durhampsych.bsky.social current has 5 (FIVE!!) PhD studentships being advertised!

3 to work with me on children as agents of cultural evolution

2 to work with @drboothroyd.bsky.social on examining school-based body image interventions.

Please share and apply!

www.durham.ac.uk/departments/...
Fees and Funding - Durham University
www.durham.ac.uk
Reposted by Rachel Kendal
drboothroyd.bsky.social
PhD post! 2 students sought to join the BIRES project, taking a body image intervention developed in Nicaragua and Colombia and examining how (and if!) It can be adapted in other LatAm and African youth.
Please share with your students.

#PsychSciSky
#Anthropology

www.durham.ac.uk/departments/...
Title of Project: Examining school-based body image interventions in Africa and/or Latin America

Start Date: January, April or October 2026

Application Deadline: 20th October 2025

For more information including how to apply please see: PhD advert BIRES studentship
rachkendal.bsky.social
What a week that was!
durhamdcerc.bsky.social
Can't believe it's already been a whole year since we hosted the CES 2024 Conference here at Durham! Such a fantastic week hearing about diverse and fascinating research @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social 1/4
Photo is taken from the back of a large lecture theatre, showing people entering and taking their seats whilst the logo for the CES 2024 Conference (a landscape of Durham city with the Cultural Evolution Society's tree logo included) is displayed on screens at the front.
rachkendal.bsky.social
A project started shortly before Covid hit has finally arrived in print, phew!
jeremykendal.bsky.social
Physical copies of this 71-chapter tome now exist. Do encourage your library to buy a copy…also doubles as excellent door stop! Co-edited with Jamie Tehrani and @rachkendal.bsky.social. @oxunipress.bsky.social @durhamanthropology.bsky.social
The Oxford Handbook of Cultural Evolution hard copy
rachkendal.bsky.social
Very cool!
mchimento.bsky.social
been a long time coming, there's now a preprint along with Will Hoppitt describing our new R package for creating, fitting and interpreting bayesian NBDA models (STBayes). www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1.... Documentation is here michaelchimento.github.io/STbayes/inde...
Reposted by Rachel Kendal
sheinalew.bsky.social
I'm THRILLED that our book is out. This book, with other 60 contributors from across the globe (!!!) is a love letter to the science we want to do, and a how-to guide for how to do it. Please read it and share it!
openbookpublish.bsky.social
OUT NOW: A Field Guide to Cross-Cultural Research on Childhood Learning reimagines how we study kids—globally. With voices from 21 countries, this inclusive, practical guide bridges disciplines and challenges Western-centric research. buff.ly/0qk1cOs
Reposted by Rachel Kendal
viveknityananda.bsky.social
The International Society for Neuroethology has a grant for disadvantaged scientists investigating the mechanisms of animal behaviour. Apply for funds to help overcome any barriers you face!

Membership fees can be included in your application.

Details here: www.neuroethology.org/diversity-aw...
rachkendal.bsky.social
Wishing you a fab conference! So sorry that many of us Durham folk can’t come despite being so close due to a spending freeze
rachkendal.bsky.social
A fab little book giving first hand insights
jeremykendal.bsky.social
What a refreshing set of perspectives, including a chapter by ex-Durham Anthro student, Alex Hill.
rachkendal.bsky.social
rebeccasear.bsky.social
The looks great: “cross-cultural developmental research poses distinct problems for ensuring high construct validity, owing to the nuances of working with children; the standard approach of transporting protocols designed & validated in one population to another risks low construct validity”
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
rachkendal.bsky.social
Fab project to postdoc in if you are into cultural evolution and modelling 👇
sheinalew.bsky.social
We're hiring! Are you a cultural evolutionary modeller who wants to understand how and why children's peer cultures evolve? Here's a postdoc position for you! @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social @durhampsych.bsky.social @ehbea.bsky.social @eslr.bsky.social

Apply here: durham.taleo.net/careersectio...
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Click the link provided to see the complete job description.
durham.taleo.net
rachkendal.bsky.social
Guaranteed to be a great book
gillianrbrown1.bsky.social
🎉Publication day! The third edition of my book 'Sense & Nonsense: Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Behaviour' co-authored with @kevinlala.bsky.social is now available!

Paperback and eBook formats (Kindle etc):
global.oup.com/academic/pro...

#evolsky #philsci #philbio #PsychSciSky #HPbio #EHBEA🧪🏺
Stack of books with bright red cover and a Franz Marc image of monkeys running through a landscape with red mountains in the background.
Reposted by Rachel Kendal
heidicolleran.bsky.social
Reupping this POSTDOC position
- deadline Dec 20th

Some more info 👇 1/3
heidicolleran.bsky.social
Modeller? Interested in linguistic diversity? *Postdoc* position on DYNAMICS OF MULTILINGUALISM available in my group at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology www.eva.mpg.de/career/posit... 2 yrs working with an international & interdisciplinary team led by @justynaolko.bsky.social
Positions available - Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
www.eva.mpg.de
Reposted by Rachel Kendal
kevinlala.bsky.social
I am excited finally to have my hands on the very first copy of the third edition of "Sense and Nonsense: Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Behaviour", co-authored with @gillianrbrown1.bsky.social.

The paperback will be available in just over two weeks time, from Oxford University Press.
Picture of Kevin Lala with the third edition of Sense and Nonsense
Reposted by Rachel Kendal
felixthehauskat.bsky.social
I'm so very happy to have been involved in this paper. Understanding children is key to understanding culture change - past, present, future - and here we get a glimpse onto some ice age kids doing their thing.
Reposted by Rachel Kendal
rebeccasear.bsky.social
The 9th "national IQ" paper of 2024 has just dropped. Anyone want to place bets on whether there'll be a nice round 10 papers using this thoroughly discredited dataset before the end of the year?
screenshot of a paper published in Personality and Individual Differences on 'The role of cognitive capital in driving the development and quality of national infrastructure', by Mateo Peñaherrera-Aguirre, Jorge Albuja-Sánchez and Aurelio José Figueredo