Kevin Lala

{{Short description|English evolutionary biologist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2023}} {{Infobox scientist | honorific_prefix = | name = Kevin Lala | honorific_suffix = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image =  | image_size = | image_upright = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Kevin Neville Lala | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1962|10|05|df=yes}} | birth_place = | death_date =  | death_place = | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | home_town = | other_names = Kevin Laland | pronounce = | residence = | citizenship = | fields = Behavioral biology<br />Evolutionary biology | workplaces = University of St Andrews | patrons = | education = University College London (Ph.D., 1990) | alma_mater = University of Southampton | thesis_title = Social transmission in Norway rats and its implications for evolutionary theory | thesis_url =  | thesis_year = 1990 | doctoral_advisor = Henry Plotkin | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = Niche construction theory | influences = | influenced = | awards = Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award | author_abbrev_bot = | author_abbrev_zoo = | spouse =  | partner =  | children = | signature =  | signature_alt = | website =  | footnotes = }} '''Kevin Neville Lala''' (formerly '''Laland'''; born 5 October 1962)<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/nb2002042997.html |title=Laland, Kevin N. |website=Library of Congress Name Authority File |access-date=2018-10-10}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Current lab members – The Lala Lab |url=https://lalandlab.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/current-lab-members/ |access-date=2023-02-01 |website=lalandlab.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk}}</ref> is an English evolutionary biologist who is Professor of Behavioural and Evolutionary Biology at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. Educated at the University of Southampton and University College London,<ref name=bbs>{{Cite journal |last1=Odling-Smee |first1=J. |last2=Laland |first2=K. N. |last3=Feldman |first3=M. W. |date=February 2000 |title=Niche construction, biological evolution, and cultural change |journal=Behavioral and Brain Sciences |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=131–146; discussion 146–175 |issn=0140-525X |pmid=11303338 |doi=10.1017/s0140525x00002417|s2cid=13893525 }}</ref> he was a Human Frontier Science Program fellow at the University of California, Berkeley before joining the University of St Andrews in 2002. He is one of the co-founders of niche construction theory<ref name=":1">{{cite book |last1=Laland |first1=K. N. |last2=Odling-Smee |first2=J. |last3=Feldman |first3=M. W. |date=2003 |title=Niche Construction: The Neglected Process in Evolution |url=https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691044378/niche-construction |publisher=Princeton University Press |page=488 |isbn=978-0-691-04437-8}}</ref> and a prominent advocate of the extended evolutionary synthesis.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.quantamagazine.org/scientists-seek-to-update-evolution-20161122/ |title=Scientists Seek to Update Evolution |last=Zimmer |first=Carl |date=2016-11-22 |website=Quanta Magazine |access-date=2018-10-10}}</ref> He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Society of Biology. He has also received a European Research Council Advanced Grant,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://erc.europa.eu/projects-figures/erc-funded-projects/results?search_api_views_fulltext=evoculture |title=ERC Funded Projects |website=European Research Council |access-date=2020-06-24 |archive-date=26 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200626090346/https://erc.europa.eu/projects-figures/erc-funded-projects/results?search_api_views_fulltext=evoculture }}</ref> a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/prizes/royal-society-wolfson-fellowship(8ad02670-a679-4730-b250-957f23210d7d).html |title=Royal Society Wolfson Fellowship |website=University of St. Andrews |language=en |access-date=2020-06-24}}</ref> and a John Templeton Foundation grant.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |url=https://www.templeton.org/grant/putting-the-extended-evolutionary-synthesis-to-the-test |title=Putting the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis to the Test |website=John Templeton Foundation |access-date=2020-06-24}}</ref> He was the president of the European Human Behaviour and Evolution Association from 2007 to 2010<ref name="cambridge">{{cite web|url= https://www.cambridge.org/core/membership/ehbea/about-us|website=cambridge.org|title=archived:www.cambridge.org/core/membership/ehbea/about-us|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101051202/https://www.cambridge.org/core/membership/ehbea/about-us |access-date=2022-10-21|archive-date=1 November 2020 }}</ref> and a former president of the Cultural Evolution Society.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About Us |url=https://culturalevolutionsociety.org/story/culturalevolutionsociety.org/story/About_Us |access-date=2023-02-01 |website=culturalevolutionsociety.org }}{{Dead link|date=May 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Lala is currently an external faculty of the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research and Editor-in-Chief of Biological Theory.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lala |first=Kevin N. |date=2026 |title=The Importance of Biological Theory |url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/s13752-026-00529-8 |journal=Biological Theory |language=en |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=1–4 |doi=10.1007/s13752-026-00529-8 |issn=1555-5542}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=People {{!}} External Faculty {{!}} Discover The KLI |url=https://kli.ac.at/content/en/people/kli_external_faculty |access-date=2023-03-10 |website=kli.ac.at}}</ref>

== Cognition and learning == The Lala Lab is primarily focused on animal social learning, innovation, and intelligence,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Toyokawa |first1=Wataru |last2=Whalen |first2=Andrew |last3=Laland |first3=Kevin N. |date=2019-01-21 |title=Social learning strategies regulate the wisdom and madness of interactive crowds |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-018-0518-x |journal=Nature Human Behaviour |language=en |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=183–193 |doi=10.1038/s41562-018-0518-x |pmid=30944445 |hdl=10023/18143 |s2cid=256703977 |issn=2397-3374|hdl-access=free |url-access=subscription }}</ref> as well as human evolution, particularly the evolution of cognition and culture.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Laland |first1=Kevin |last2=Seed |first2=Amanda |date=2021-01-04 |title=Understanding Human Cognitive Uniqueness |url=https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-psych-062220-051256 |journal=Annual Review of Psychology |language=en |volume=72 |issue=1 |pages=689–716 |doi=10.1146/annurev-psych-062220-051256 |pmid=33400565 |s2cid=230784383 |issn=0066-4308|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Their work lies at the interdisciplinary interface of evolutionary biology, animal behavior, ecology, and psychology.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Lala Lab – Research in the School of Biology |url=https://lalandlab.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/ |access-date=2023-02-01 |website=lalandlab.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk |language=en-GB}}</ref>

== Niche construction theory == Following John Odling-Smee's attempt in 1988 to formalize the process of niche construction as an evolutionary process,<ref>Odling-Smee FJ (1988) Niche-constructing phenotypes. In: Plotkin HC (ed) The Role of Behavior in Evolution. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, pp. 73–132</ref> Odling-Smee, Lala, and Marcus W. Feldman developed a theoretical framework – Niche Construction Theory – that models niche construction as an evolutionary process reciprocally interacting with the process of natural selection.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Odling-Smee |first1=F. John |last2=Laland |first2=Kevin N. |last3=Feldman |first3=Marcus W. |date=1996 |title=Niche Construction |journal=The American Naturalist |volume=147 |issue=4 |pages=641–648 |doi=10.1086/285870 |jstor=2463239 |s2cid=222326061 |issn=0003-0147}}</ref> This theory has been applied widely across multiple fields, including ecology<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Laland |first1=K. N. |last2=Odling-Smee |first2=F. J. |last3=Feldman |first3=M. W. |date=1999-08-31 |title=Evolutionary consequences of niche construction and their implications for ecology |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |language=en |volume=96 |issue=18 |pages=10242–10247 |doi=10.1073/pnas.96.18.10242 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=17873 |pmid=10468593|bibcode=1999PNAS...9610242L |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Matthews |first1=Blake |last2=De Meester |first2=Luc |last3=Jones |first3=Clive G. |last4=Ibelings |first4=Bas W. |last5=Bouma |first5=Tjeerd J. |last6=Nuutinen |first6=Visa |last7=de Koppel |first7=Johan van |last8=Odling-Smee |first8=John |date=May 2014 |title=Under niche construction: an operational bridge between ecology, evolution, and ecosystem science |url=http://doi.wiley.com/10.1890/13-0953.1 |journal=Ecological Monographs |language=en |volume=84 |issue=2 |pages=245–263 |doi=10.1890/13-0953.1 |bibcode=2014EcoM...84..245M |issn=0012-9615}}</ref> evolutionary developmental biology,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Laland |first1=Kevin N. |last2=Odling-Smee |first2=John |last3=Gilbert |first3=Scott F. |date=2008-11-15 |title=EvoDevo and niche construction: building bridges |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jez.b.21232 |journal=Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution |language=en |volume=310B |issue=7 |pages=549–566 |doi=10.1002/jez.b.21232|pmid=18756522 |bibcode=2008JEZB..310..549L |url-access=subscription }}</ref> and human and cultural evolution.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kendal |first1=Jeremy |last2=Tehrani |first2=Jamshid J. |last3=Odling-Smee |first3=John |date=2011-03-27 |title=Human niche construction in interdisciplinary focus |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |language=en |volume=366 |issue=1566 |pages=785–792 |doi=10.1098/rstb.2010.0306 |issn=0962-8436 |pmc=3048995 |pmid=21320894}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Laland |first1=Kevin N. |last2=Odling-Smee |first2=John |last3=Myles |first3=Sean |date=February 2010 |title=How culture shaped the human genome: bringing genetics and the human sciences together |journal=Nature Reviews Genetics |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=137–148 |doi=10.1038/nrg2734 |pmid=20084086 |s2cid=10287878 |issn=1471-0056}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Laland |first1=Kevin N. |last2=Odling-Smee |first2=John |last3=Feldman |first3=Marcus W. |date=February 2000 |title=Niche construction, biological evolution, and cultural change |journal=Behavioral and Brain Sciences |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=131–146 |doi=10.1017/s0140525x00002417 |pmid=11303338 |s2cid=13893525 |issn=0140-525X}}</ref>

== Extended evolutionary synthesis == In the mid-2010s, Kevin Lala, Tobias Uller, and colleagues pushed for an extended evolutionary synthesis in a series of high-impact articles.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Laland |first1=Kevin |last2=Uller |first2=Tobias |last3=Feldman |first3=Marc |last4=Sterelny |first4=Kim |last5=Müller |first5=Gerd B. |last6=Moczek |first6=Armin |last7=Jablonka |first7=Eva |last8=Odling-Smee |first8=John |last9=Wray |first9=Gregory A. |last10=Hoekstra |first10=Hopi E. |last11=Futuyma |first11=Douglas J. |last12=Lenski |first12=Richard E. |last13=Mackay |first13=Trudy F. C. |last14=Schluter |first14=Dolph |last15=Strassmann |first15=Joan E. |date=October 2014 |title=Does evolutionary theory need a rethink? |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=514 |issue=7521 |pages=161–164 |doi=10.1038/514161a |pmid=25297418 |bibcode=2014Natur.514..161L |s2cid=4467421 |issn=1476-4687|doi-access=free |hdl=1885/28950 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Laland |first1=Kevin N. |last2=Uller |first2=Tobias |last3=Feldman |first3=Marcus W. |last4=Sterelny |first4=Kim |last5=Müller |first5=Gerd B. |last6=Moczek |first6=Armin |last7=Jablonka |first7=Eva |last8=Odling-Smee |first8=John |date=2015-08-22 |title=The extended evolutionary synthesis: its structure, assumptions and predictions |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |volume=282 |issue=1813 |article-number=20151019 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2015.1019 |pmc=4632619 |pmid=26246559}}</ref> From 2015 to 2018, Uller and Lala led a large international John Templeton Foundation grant to test key hypotheses and assumptions of the extended evolutionary synthesis.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Extended Evolutionary Synthesis – An integrative research program |url=https://extendedevolutionarysynthesis.com/ |access-date=2023-01-27 |language=en-GB}}</ref>

== Anti-racism work == Kevin Lala previously served on the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion division of the School of Biology as deputy director.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Committee – Equality, Diversity and Inclusion |url=https://biology.st-andrews.ac.uk/edi/edicommittee/ |access-date=2023-01-27 |website=biology.st-andrews.ac.uk}}</ref> He is currently serving as an anti-racism advocate.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Anti-racism – Equality, Diversity and Inclusion |url=https://biology.st-andrews.ac.uk/edi/anti-racism/ |access-date=2023-01-27 |website=biology.st-andrews.ac.uk}}</ref>

Lala changed his name from Laland, stating on his lab website "Lala was my original family name, which my parents anglicized when I was 4, in an attempt to reduce the racism that their children experienced. I may have benefited from my surname being anglicized, but it did not sit right with me that I should still bear that name more than 50 years later. I wish to celebrate my ancestry not hide it. I am proud of my Parsi Indian heritage. I am not going to be intimidated by racists."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://lalandlab.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/current-lab-members/#:~:text=Why%20I%20Changed%20My%20Name,more%20than%2050%20years%20later. |access-date=23 February 2024 |title=Current lab members – the Laland Lab }}</ref>

==Publications==

=== Journal articles ===

* [https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=TXcWAw0AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao Google scholar]

=== Books === * ''Evolutionary Causation: Biological and Philosophical Reflections,'' The MIT Press, 2019, Tobias Uller, Kevin N Laland {{ISBN|9780262039925}} * ''Darwin's Unfinished Symphony: How Culture Made the Human Mind'', Princeton University Press, 2017 {{ISBN|9780691151182}} * ''Social Learning: An Introduction to Mechanisms, Methods, and Models'', Princeton University Press, 2013, William Hoppitt and Kevin N. Laland {{ISBN|9780691150703}} * ''Sense and nonsense: Evolutionary perspectives on human behaviour'', Oxford University Press, 2011, Kevin N. Laland and Gillian R. Brown, 2nd edition {{ISBN|9780199586967}} * ''Niche Construction: The Neglected Process in Evolution'', Princeton University Press, 2003, John Odling-Smee, Kevin N. Laland, Marcus W. Feldman {{ISBN|9780691044378}} * ''Sense and nonsense: Evolutionary perspectives on human behaviour'', Oxford University Press, 2002, Kevin N. Laland and Gillian R. Brown, 1st edition {{ISBN|9780198508847}} * ''Sense and nonsense: Evolutionary perspectives on human behaviour'', Oxford University Press, 2024, Kevin N. Lala and Gillian R. Brown, 3rd edition {{ISBN|9780198908203}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *[https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/kevin-neville-laland(4ae352f3-32ca-418e-9d07-9b8ee17e6183).html Faculty page] *[https://lalandlab.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/ The Lala Lab] *[https://nicheconstruction.com Niche construction resource website] *[https://extendedevolutionarysynthesis.com Extended evolutionary synthesis project website]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lala, Kevin}} Category:Living people Category:1962 births Category:Alumni of University College London Category:Alumni of the University of Southampton Category:Academics of the University of St Andrews Category:British evolutionary biologists Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Category:Fellows of the Society of Biology Category:Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award holders Category:European Research Council grantees Category:English biologists Category:Extended evolutionary synthesis Category:English people of Parsi descent Category:British people of Parsi descent