Within societies, not all pairs of individuals have the same relationship - some pairs are friends, some are foes, some share little other than living in the same group or population. My research asks when and why this structure arises, sets out to quantify the consequences variation in social ties has for the health, aging and fitness of individuals, and attempts to detemine the adaptive function of social ties.
We use data from group-living mammals, apply techniques from social network analysis, and take advantage of natural experiments, including the aging process and major ecological disruptions. Together with colleagues, I have co-founded two big-team science initiatives: MacaqueNet and the Cayo Biobank Research Unit. My group also created BISoN, a Bayesian framework and R package for social network analysis.
We use data from group-living mammals, apply techniques from social network analysis, and take advantage of natural experiments, including the aging process and major ecological disruptions. Together with colleagues, I have co-founded two big-team science initiatives: MacaqueNet and the Cayo Biobank Research Unit. My group also created BISoN, a Bayesian framework and R package for social network analysis.