DYLAN EVANS: CV

CURRENT OCCUPATION: Senior Research Scientist, Cork Constraint Computation Centre (4C), University College Cork, Ireland.

AREA OF SPECIALISATION: Evolutionary psychology (social psychology), robotics, philosophy of science, philosophy of medicine.

AREA OF COMPETENCE: Philosophy of mind, history and philosophy of psychoanalysis.

UNIVERSITY EDUCATION:

1997-99 London School of Economics: Ph.D. programme in Philosophy.
Thesis title: ‘Rethinking emotion: new research in emotion and recent debates in cognitive science.’ Supervisor: Professor John Worrall. Awarded 30 August 2000. For a gzipped tarball containing my PhD thesis, click here. For the PDF version, go to this page and download the individual chapters.

1996 State University of New York at Buffalo (Fulbright Scholarship).
Courses taken in the PhD program in Comparative Literature.

1994-95 University of Kent: M.A. in Psychoanalytic Studies in the Humanities (Distinction).
Dissertation: ‘Psychical violence: suggestion and the ethics of psychoanalysis.’ (Distinction). Supervisor: Dr Julia Borossa. For a gzipped tarball containing my MA dissertation, click here. For a PDF with strange formatting click here.

1987-91 University of Southampton: B.A. (Hons) in Spanish with Linguistics (First Class).

PUBLICATIONS:

1.    Books:

forthcoming The Utopia Experiment. London: HarperCollins

2004 (edited with Pierre Cruse) Emotion, Evolution and Rationality. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

2003 Placebo: The Belief Effect . London: Harper Collins. Republished by Harper Collins as Placebo: Mind over Matter in Modern Medicine in 2004.

2001 (with Howard Selina) Introducing Evolution . London: Icon, and New York: Totem.

2001 Emotion: The Science of Sentiment. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

1999 (with Oscar Zarate) Introducing Evolutionary Psychology . London: Icon, and New York: Totem.

1996 An Introductory Dictionary of Lacanian Psychoanalysis . London & New York: Routledge.

2. Papers in peer-reviewed academic journals:

2005 ‘Suppression of the acute-phase response as a biological mechanism for placebo effect’ Medical Hypotheses, 64: 1-7.

2002 ‘Pain, evolution and the placebo response’ Behavioral and Brain Sciences , 25 (4): 459-460.

2002 ‘The search hypothesis of emotion’ The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 53 (4): 497-509.

1997 ‘The lure of the already there and the lure of the before: psychoanalytic theory and historiography’ Journal for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society 2 (1): 141-45.

1996 ‘Historicism and Lacanian theory’ Radical Philosophy 79: 35-40.

1995 ‘Successful misunderstanding: the dialogue between cultural theory and psychoanalysis’ diatribe 5: 57-62.

3. Papers in conference proceedings:

2005 (with Karen Bultitude, Ben Johnson, Frank Burnet and Alan Winfield) ‘Robot Thought - A dialogue event for family audiences’, Proceedings of the AISB’05 Symposium on Robotics, Mechatronics and Animatronics in the Creative and Entertainment Industries and Arts, University of Hertfordshire, pp. 14-21.

2003 (with Annerieke Heuvelink and Daniel Nettle) ‘The evolution of optimism: a multi-agent based model of adaptive bias in human judgement’, Proceedings of the AISB’03 Symposium on Scientific Methods for the Analysis of Agent-Environment Interaction, University of Wales, pp.20-25.

4. Chapters and other contributions to edited books

2006 ‘Secular fundamentalism’ in Debating Humanism, ed. Dolan Cummings, Societas Imprint Academic: Exeter, pp.12-21.

2005 ‘From Lacan to Darwin’ in The Literary Animal; Evolution and the Nature of Narrative, eds. Jonathan Gottschall and David Sloan Wilson, Evanston: Northwestern University Press, pp.38-55.

2005 Entry on ‘Emotion’ in Encyclopedia of Science, Technology, and Ethics. Ed. Carl Mitcham. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA.

2005 ‘Fool others into feeling better’, Hack #73 in Mind Hacks: Tips and Tools for Using your Brain, by Tom Stafford and Matt Webb, Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly, pp.242-45.

2004 Entry on ‘Placebo’ in The Oxford Companion to the Mind , Second Edition, ed. Richard Gregory, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.733-35.

2004 ‘The search hypothesis of emotion’ in Emotion, Evolution, and Rationality, Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press, pp.179-191. (Reprint of Evans, D. (2002) ‘The search hypothesis of emotion’ The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science , 53 (4): 497-509.)

2003 ‘Are we all mad?’ in A Very Short Introduction to Everything , Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.91-92.

2001 Entries on ‘Evolution’, ‘Instinct’, and ‘Sociobiology’, in The Oxford Companion to the Body, eds. Colin Blakemore and Sheila Jennett, Oxford: Oxford University Press , pp.259-60, 403, 633-34.

2001 (with Lewis Wolpert) ‘Malignant sadness: the evolutionary psychology of depression’, in Every Family in the Land: Understanding Prejudice and Discrimination Against People with Mental Illness , ed. Arthur H. Crisp, http://www.stigma.org/everyfamily/

1998 ‘From Kantian ethics to mystical experience: an exploration of jouissance’, in Key Concepts of Lacanian Psychoanalysis , ed. Dany Nobus, London: Rebus Press, pp.1-28.


5. Articles in newspapers, magazines, newsletters, periodicals and commercial websites:

2007 ‘Letter from Utopia: Oh dear, someone's getting cold feet’, The Times, 8 June 2007

2007 ‘Letter from Utopia: Sound of music is sorely missed’, The Times, 11 May 2007

2007 ‘Letter from Utopia: Religion or a lifestyle choice? Pass the gravy’, The Times, 27 April 2007.

2006 ‘Teaching robotics with LEGO Mindstorms’, Nesta Futurelab March 2006, http://www.nestafuturelab.org/viewpoint/art74.htm

2006 ‘The savage solution’, The Guardian, 27 February 2006, p.33.

2005 ‘A risk of total collapse’, The Guardian, 21 December 2005, p.29.

2005 ‘The loss of utopia’, The Guardian, 27 October 2005, p.32.

2005 ‘Mozart redeems my mediocrity’, The Guardian, 21 July 2005, p.26.

2005 ‘Not a nerd in sight’, The Times Higher Education Supplement, 17 June 2005, p.13.

2005 ‘Beethoven was a narcissistic hooligan’, The Guardian, 7 June 2005, p.21.

2005 ‘The 21st century atheist’, The Guardian, 2 May 2005, p.15.

2005 ‘Hawking started it’, The Guardian, 10 March 2005, p.21.

2004 ‘Can robots have emotions?’, Psychology Review Vol. 11, No.1 (September 2004) pp.2-5.

2004 ‘Mean machines’, The Guardian, 29 July 2004, Online supplement pp.8-9.

2004 ‘Robots of the future’, http://www.firstscience.com, 24 July 2004.

2004 ‘Windows won't be enough to keep out terrorists’, Financial Times, 7 May 2004.

2003 ‘Smash the Windows’, The Guardian, 6 November 2003, p.26.

2003 ‘The evolution of optimism: an agent-based model of adaptive bias’, AISB Quarterly, No.113, Summer 2003, p.8.

2002 ‘Scary movies’, Scriptwriter, Issue 4, May 2002, pp.28-29.

2002 ‘You make my heart beep’, The Guardian , 14 February 2002, Online supplement p.11.

2001 ‘It’s the thought that counts’, The Guardian Weekend , 6 October 2001, pp.62-68.

2001 ‘Think yourself healthy’, Red, September 2001, pp.217-218.

1999 ‘The social competition hypothesis of depression’, ASCAP Newsletter Vol 12 no.3 (March 1999) pp.12-15

1998 ‘The arbitrary ape’, New Scientist Vol 159 No 2148, 22 August, 1998, pp.32-35.

1996 ‘Pulling power’, The Guardian 7 May 1996.

1995 ‘Current criticisms of psychoanalysis’, The Psychoanalysis Newsletter , 15: 7-16.

1995 ‘Science and truth: an introduction (I)’, Newsletter of the London Circle of the European School of Psychoanalysis , I, 1: 4-8.

1995 ‘Psychobabble and paranoia’, The Guardian 22 November 1995, section 2 page 3.

1994 ‘Psychoanalysis in Argentina’, The Psychoanalysis Newsletter , 14: 13-17.

6. Book reviews:

2007 ‘We're all doomed’ (review of The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity and the Renewal of Civilization by Thomas Homer-Dixon), The Guardian, 21 July 2007.

2005 ‘Robots have feelings too’ (review of Who Needs Emotions? The Brain Meets the Robot ed. Jean-Marc Fellous & Michael A. Arbib), Nature , 437 (7055): 35, 1 September 2005.

2005 ‘A happy gathering’ (multiple book review), Nature , 436 (7047): 26-7, 7 July 2005.

2005 ‘A stab in the dark’ (review of The Lobotomist by Jack El-Hai), The Guardian, 11 June 2005.

2005 ‘Fasten your seatbelts’ (review of Emotional Rollercoaster by Claudia Hammond), The Guardian, 5 March 2005.

2004 ‘Fighting philistines’ (review of Where have all the Intellectuals Gone? by Frank Furedi), The Guardian, 11 December 2004.

2004 Review of Natural-Born Cyborgs: Minds, Technologies, and the Future of Human Intelligence by Andy Clark, Connection Science, Volume 16 (1): 67-68.

2004 ‘A robot to DIY for’ (review of Growing up with Lucy by Steve Grand), The Guardian, 27 March 2004.

2003 ‘Feeling friendly’ (review of Looking for Spinoza by Antonio Damasio), New Humanist, Summer 2003, p.35.

2003 ‘The one that got away’ (review of A Computer Called LEO by Georgina Ferry), The Guardian, 24 May 2003.

2003 ‘Natural gold dust’ (review of Nature via Nurture: Genes, Experience and What Makes Us Human by Matt Ridley), The Evening Standard , 31 March 2003.

2002 ‘All in the baby’s mind’ (review of The Blank Slate: The Denial of Human Nature in Modern Intellectual Life by Steven Pinker), The Evening Standard, 9 September 2002.

2002 ‘Robot wars’ (review of Robot: The Future of Flesh and Machines by Rodney A Brooks), The Guardian , 20 April 2002.

2002 Review of The Mind Made Flesh: Frontiers of Psychology and Evolution by Nicholas Humphrey, Human Nature Review , Volume 2: 88, 26 February 2002. http://human-nature.com/nibbs/02/evans.html

2001 ‘Zoo management’ (review of Managing the Human Animal by Nigel Nicholson), The Guardian, 10 February 2001.

2001 ‘Not so crazy after all’ (review of Strong Imagination: Madness, Creativity and Human Nature by Daniel Nettle), Nature 409: 284, 18 January 2001.

2000 Review of Biocultural Approaches to the Emotions edited by Alexander Laban Hinton, The Galton Institute Newsletter , June 2000, pp.6-7.

2000 ‘Art for partner's sake’ (review of Promiscuity by Tim Birkhead and The Mating Mind by Geoffrey Miller), The Guardian , 6 May 2000.

2000 ‘Medicine’s least respectable branch?’ (review of A Century of Psychiatry edited by Hugh Freeman), Nature 403 (6795): 19-20, 6 January 2000.

1999 ‘Loitering in Eden’ (review of Almost Like a Whale: The Origin of Species Updated by Steve Jones), The Guardian , 18 September 1999.

1999 ‘A sickness called therapy’ (review of Manufacturing Victims: What the Psychology Industry is Doing to People by Tanna Dineen), The Guardian, 28 August 1999.

1999 Review of Death Anxiety and Clinical Practice by Robert Langs, Psychoanalytic Studies , vol.1, no.2: 238-240.

1999 Review of The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn out the Way they Do by Judith Rich Harris, The Psychotherapy Review , vol.1, no.1: 33-34.

1999 Review of Evolutionary Genetics: Second Edition by John Maynard Smith, Cell Biology International , vol.22, no.4: 327.

1998 Review of What is Disease? edited by James Humber and Robert Almeder, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science , 49: 348-350.

1997 Review of The Emptiness of the Image by Parveen Adams , UAPS Newsletter 6: 49-50.

1996 Review of Why Do Women Write More Letters than they Post? by Darian Leader, UAPS Newsletter 4: 15-17.

7. Translaions

1995 ‘Object and image in autistic children’, by Silvia Elena Tendlarz, Journal of the Centre for Freudian Analysis and Research 6: 63-71.

8. Fiction

2005 ‘The emperor's new clothes: a revision’, Entelechy: Mind and Culture Fall 2005 / Winter 2006. http://www.entelechyjournal.com

PREVIOUS EMPLOYMENT:

2006 July - 2008 January: Director, Utopia Experiment Ltd.

2003 December - 2006 July: Senior Lecturer in Intelligent Autonomous Systems (full-time), Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, University of the West of England, Bristol.

2002 January - 2003 December: Research Officer in Evolutionary Robotics (full-time), Centre for Biomimetics and Natural Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Bath.

2000 September – 2001 December; Research Fellow responsible for the Emotion Project (full-time), Department of Philosophy, King’s College London.

1999 January – 2000 August; Research Assistant to Professor Nicholas Humphrey (part-time), Evolution of the Emotions Project, Centre for the Philosophy of Natural and Social Scinece, London School of Economics.

1997 November – 1999 January; Research Assistant to Dr Helena Cronin (part-time), Department of Philosophy, London School of Economics.

1997 July – November; Research Assistant to Professor John Worrall (part-time), Department of Philosophy, London School of Economics

1995 November – 1996 July; Counsellor (half-time), Department of Clinical Psychology, Oxleas NHS Health Trust.

1992 January - 1993 December; Teacher of English as a Foreign Language, International House, Buenos Aires.

UNIVERSITY TEACHING EXPERIENCE:

2005 October – 2006 June: Lecturer and module leader, ‘Robotics Group Project’, full-unit undergraduate course for second year BSc Robotics students, Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, University of the West of England.

2004 October – 2006 June: Lecturer and module leader, ‘Introduction to Robotics’, full-unit undergraduate course for first year BSc Robotics students, Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, University of the West of England.

2002 October – 2003 March; Co-lecturer, ‘Biomimetics’, full-unit undergraduate course for third year students, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Bath.

2001 October – 2002 March; Lecturer and course convenor, ‘Science versus non-science’, full-unit undergraduate philosophy course for medical students, Department of Philosophy, King’s College London.

2000 July; Course-co-ordinator (Media and New Technologies Stream), HESS Summer School, External Study Office, London School of Economics.

2000 February – March; Lecturer, series of five lectures on ‘The Darwinian Revolution’, part of the BA/MSc course on ‘Scientific Revolutions’, Department of Philosophy, London School of Economics.

1998 September – 2000 May: Class teacher (part time); second-year undergraduate backup classes for the course in ‘Scientific Method’, Department of Philosophy, London School of Economics.

1996 August - December; Teaching Assistant (part-time), English 101, Department of English, State University of New York at Buffalo.

1995 October-December; Lecturer, series of three lectures on ‘Psychoanalysis and Society’, part of the MA in Psychoanalytic Studies, Department of Human Sciences, Brunel University, England.

POSTGRADUATE SUPERVISION/EXAMINATION:

2005 - 2006: Internal supervision of PhD thesis in Robotics at the University of the West of England, Bristol (Peter Jaeckel, in progress).

2004 Internal supervision of MSc dissertation in Software Engineering at the University of the West of England, Bristol (Jordan Muscott, MSc awarded).

2004 External examination of PhD thesis in Psychology at Massey University, New Zealand (Steve Stewart-Williams, PhD awarded).

2003 - present: External supervision of MPhil dissertation in Psychology at the Open University (Jill Huby , in progress).

2000 Internal supervision of MSc dissertation in Philosophy of Science at the London School of Economics (Edward Sexton, MSc awarded).

PAPERS PRESENTED AT CONFERENCES AND SYMPOSIA:

2005 ‘Synthesis of facial expressions of emotion on a humanoid robot head.’ Paper presented at the Regional Meeting on Mathematics, Computation and Biology, University of the West of England, Bristol, 24 July 2005.

2004 ‘Robot thought: a mini-drama about robots.’ Paper presented at the RoboFesta-UK Creative Robotics Meeting, The Open University, Milton Keynes, 10th November 2004 (invited speaker).

2003 ‘The evolutionary rationality of emotion’. Paper presented at the 3rd LCHES symposium on Human Evolution, University of Cambridge, 15 November 2003 (invited speaker).

2003 ‘A biological mechanism for the placebo effect’. Paper presented at the 11th European Skeptics Congress, London, 6 September 2003.

2003 ‘Artificial Emotion’. ‘Mini-challenge’ presented to the Foresight Cognitive Systems Inter Action Conference, HP Labs, Bristol, 3 September 2003 .

2003 (with Annerieke Heuvelink and Daniel Nettle) ‘Motivational biases and decision-making: an adaptive approach’. Paper presented at the 15th Annual Meeting of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society (HBES 2003), Unversity of Nebraska-Lincoln, 6 June 2003.

2003 (with Annerieke Heuvelink and Daniel Nettle) ‘The evolution of optimism: a multi-agent based model of motivational bias’. Paper presented at the 2003 Convention of the Society for Artificial Intelligence and the Simulation of Behaviour (AISB'03), Unversity of Wales, Aberystwyth, 9 April 2003.

2003 ‘Scientific interest in the emotions: a renaissance.’ Paper given at ‘Passionate Machines: The Art and Science of Emotional Computing’, a one-day conference organised by the Centre for Arts Research, Technology and Education (CARTE) at the University of Westminster, 1 February 2003 (invited speaker and conference chair).

2002 ‘Emotions and physical health: a biological mechanism for the placebo response.’ Paper given at a Symposium on the Psychobiology of Emotion, The Banbury Center, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 29 October 2002 (invited speaker).

2002 ‘Battling pseudo-science, Hollywood and alien abductions.’ Contribution to panel discussion (invited participant) in the session on ‘Search for signatures of life in the solar system: legal, philosophical, ethical and educational issues’ at 34th COSPAR Scientific Assembly/Second World Space Congress, Houston, Texas, 19 October 2002.

2002 ‘What distinguishes humans from the rest of the animal kingdom?’ Plenary lecture at ‘The meaning of the person: consciousness, genetics and evolutionary biology’, four day conference organised by the Ian Ramsey Centre, Theology Faculty, University of Oxford, July 10-14 2002 (invited speaker).

2002 ‘The future of evolutionary psychology’ Plenary lecture at the one-day conference on Evolutionary Psychology hosted by the University of Amsterdam on 31 May 2002 (invited speaker).

2002 ‘The search hypothesis of emotion’, Paper presented at the interdisciplinary conference on ‘Emotion, Evolution and Rationality’ hosted by the Philosophy Department at King’s College London on 27-28 April 2002 (invited speaker).

2001 ‘Modularity: a case of semantic inflation’, Paper presented as part of a symposium on modularity at the twenty-third annual conference of the Cognitive Science Society (COGSCI 2001) at the University of Edinburgh, 2-4 August 2001 (invited speaker).

2001 ‘Evolutionary psychology and the scientific understanding of the public’, Paper presented at the annual conference of the British Society for the Philosophy of Science at the University of York, 6-7 July 2001 (invited speaker, plenary session).

1999 ‘From moods to modules: preliminary remarks for an evolutionary theory of mood phenomena’, Paper presented at the annual conference of the European Society for Philosophy and Psychology at the University of Warwick, 23-27 July 1999.

1999 ‘From moods to modules: preliminary remarks for an evolutionary theory of mood phenomena’, Paper presented at the annual conference of the Royal Institute of Philosophy (‘Naturalism, evolution and mind’) at the University of Edinburgh, 14-17 July 1999.

1999 ‘Is evolutionary psychology ambitious enough?, Paper presented at the one-day graduate conference on ‘Philosophical Problems in Evolutionary Theory’ at the University of Reading, 6 March 1999.

1996 ‘The lure of the already there and the lure of the before: psychoanalytic theory and historiography’, Paper presented at the Second Annual Conference of the Association for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society on ‘Psychoanalysis and social change’ at Georgetown University, Washington DC, 7-10 November 1996.

1995 ‘Whatever happened to hysteria? DSM and the disappearance of neurosis’ Paper presented at the Psychoanalysis Day Conference on ‘Hysteria and Obsession’ at Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds, 11 November 1995 (invited speaker).

1995 ‘Lacan: a divided subject’ Paper presented at the first Annual Conference of the London Circle of the European School of Psychoanalysis, London, 24 June 1995.

1995 ‘Historical méconnaissance, or the lure of the already-there?’ Paper presented at the second annual conference of the Universities Association for Psychoanalytic Studies, Sheffield, 20-21 May 1995.

PUBLIC LECTURES/GUEST LECTURES/SEMINARS:

2006 ‘Why Spock could not evolve’ Talk given at the Heartfelt Emotions conference, Wellcome Trust, London, 8 September 2007.

2007 ‘The utopia experiment’ Talk given at the Changin' Scotland weekend at the Ceilidh Place, Ullapool, Scotland, 17 March 2007.

2006 ‘The utopia experiment’ Seminar given at the Psychology Department, Newcastle University, 17 November 2006.

2006 ‘Existing and future technologies for cognition enhancement’ Talk given at the Demos/Foresight seminar on ‘The cognition-enhanced classroom: brains, drugs and the future of education’, Southwark Cathedral Conference Centre, London, 29 March 2006.

2006 ‘The importance of imagining different worlds and futures’ Talk given at the Changin' Scotland weekend at the Ceilidh Place, Ullapool, Scotland, 18 March 2006.

2006 ‘How intelligent are we about AI?’ Talk given at the QI Building, Oxford, 16 February 2006.

2006 ‘Civilisation and madness’ Talk given to the sixth-form psychology students at St. Antony's-Leweston School, Sherborne, 8 February 2006.

2005 ‘Science and the quest for understanding: the twin perils of scientism and anti-science.’ Talk given at the AGM of the Bristol and Bath Branch of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Explore-At-Bristol, Bristol Harbourside, 3 November 2005.

2005 ‘Can robots have emotions?’ Series of five Café Scientifique talks given at various venues in Mexico City and Monterrey in Mexico, organised by the British Council, 5-9 September 2005.

2005 ‘Emotions and film.’ Debate with Lord David Puttnam and Ian Penton-Voak, Cheltenham Festival of Science, 8 June 2005.

2005 ‘Short-cuts to happiness.’ Caforio Bookshop, Manduria, Italy. 14 January 2005.

2004 ‘Can robots have emotions?’ Millenium Lecture, University of Bath, 29 November 2004.

2004 ‘Can computers have emotions?’ Hot Seat Debate with Andy Clark and Aaron Sloman, School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, 17 November 2004.

2004 ‘Placebo: the belief effect.’ Café Scientifique talk given at Blackwells Bookshop, Oxford, 9 November 2004.

2004 ‘Smashing Windows: Why Microsoft is bad for your business’. Talk given at the Business Breakfast slot at the Cheltenham Festival of Science, UCAS, Cheltenham, 11 June 2004.

2003 ‘Why love, and not just lust?’. Talk given at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, London, 1 December 2003.

2003 ‘Placebo: the belief effect’. Seminar given at the Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths College, London, 12 November 2003.

2003 ‘Synthetic evolutionary psychology’. Seminar given at the Department of Anthropology, University College London, 11 November 2003.

2003 ‘Placebo: the belief effect.’ Talk given at the Ways with Words Festival of Literature, Dartington, 13 July 2003.

2003 ‘Biomimetics: cutting-edge science solves real-life problems.’ Frontiers of Science talk, South-West Pupil Researcher Initiative (PRI) ‘Express Yourself’ Young Scientists’ Conference, Bristol, 27 June 2003.

2003 ‘Placebo: the belief effect.’ Lecture hosted by the Institute for Cultural Research, London, 7 June 2003.

2003 ‘Alternative medicine.’ Debate with Romy Fraser and Edzard Ernst at the Cheltenham Festival of Science, Cheltenham, 6 June 2003.

2003 ‘Placebo: the belief effect.’ Café Scientifique talk given at Boston Tea Party, Bristol, 29 April 2003.

2003 ‘The belief effect: the placebo response and consequences for health psychology.’ Departmental seminar given at the Department of Psychology, University of Bath, 26 March 2003.

2003 ‘Reflections on death.’ Panelist at the one-day conference on ‘Discourses of death’, held at King’s College London on 22 February 2003.

2002 ‘The evolution of optimism.’ Seminar given at the Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics, 9 December 2002.

2002 ‘Lacan and twentieth-century science.’ Seminar given at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science as part of the Psy Studies Seminar Series, University of Cambridge, 4 December 2002.

2002 ‘The science of sentiment’, ‘Affective computing’ and ‘Synthetic evolutionary psychology’. Three lectures given at the Department of Philosophy, University of Gent, 25 and 26 November 2002.

2002 ‘Some questions about emotions.’ Seminar given at the Department of Philosophy as part of the MSc in Philosophy of Mental Disorder, King's College London, 13 November 2002.

2002 ‘Synthetic evolutionary psychology.’ Seminar given at the Centre for Mathematical Biology, University of Bath, 6 November 2002.

2002 ‘The belief effect: the placebo response and consequences for health psychology.’ Talk given at the Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, 25 October 2002.

2002 ‘The placebo response and the belief effect.’ Talk given at the School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences (COGS), Susex University, 15 October 2002.

2002 ‘The science of emotion.’ Talk given at the Cheltenham Science Festival, 22 May 2002.

2002 ‘New directions for research in evolutionary robotics: the biomimetic approach.’ Talk given at Hewlett Packard Laboratories, Bristol, as part of the seminar series on Biologically Inspired Complex Adaptive Seminars organised by Dave Cliff, 20 March 2002.

2002 ‘The placebo effect: fact or fiction?’ Staff seminar given at the Department of General Practice and Primary Care, Guy's, King's and St Thomas' School of Medicine, 6 March 2002.

2002 ‘The search hypothesis of emotion’ Staff seminar given at the Department of Psychology, Warwick University, 24 January 2002.

2001 ‘The science of sentiment’ Talk given at the Ways with Words Festival of Literature, Dartington, 7 July 2001.

2001 ‘The science of sentiment’ Talk given at the Hay Festival of Literature and the Arts, Hay-on-Wye, 30 May 2001.

2001 ‘The science of sentiment’ Lecture given at the Edinburgh International Science Festival, Edinburgh, 7 April 2001.

2001 ‘Expressing emotions’ Talk given at Borders Bookshop, Oxford Street, London, 21 March 2001.

2001 ‘Was love invented in the middle ages? Debate with Alain de Botton, Waterstone’s Bookshop, Picadilly, London, 30 January 2001. Chair: Simon Blackburn.

2000 ‘The science of sentiment’ Talk given to the Philosophy Society at Lady Margaret’s School, Parson’s Green, London, 2 November 2000.

2000 ‘Would we be better off without emotions?’ Talk given at Café Rustique, Tufnell Park, London, 21 September 2000.

2000 ‘Why Spock could never have evolved’ Talk given to the Philosophy Society at St Paul’s Girls' School, Hammersmith, London, 20 March 2000.

2000 ‘Evolutionary psychopathology: Darwin and the origins of mental disorder’ Seminar given at the New School for Social Research, New York, 22 February 2000.

2000 ‘Evolutionary psychopathology: Darwin and the origins of mental disorder’ Lecture given at Guy’s Hospital, London, 15 February 2000.

2000 ‘Evolutionary psychology and the emotions’ Lecture given at the Café Scientifique, Nottingham, on 10 January 2000.

1999 ‘Evolutionary theories of higher cognitive emotions’ Lecture given as part of a workshop on ‘Sex, death and reasoning’ at the Centre for Thinking and Language, Department of Psychology, University of Plymouth, 10 December 1999.

1999 ‘Evolutionary psychology and massive modularity’ Talk given to the Philosophy Society of University College London, 24 November 1999.

1999 ‘Scientific explanation’ Lecture given at the London School of Economics and Political Science, as part of the course ‘Scientific Method’ taught by Dr Carl Hoefer, 23 November 1999.

1999 ‘Evolutionary psychology and the attack on the Standard Social Science Model’ Seminar given at the London School of Economics as part of the MSc in Philosophy of Social Science on 12 October 1999.

1999 ‘Have evolutionary explanations gone too far?’ Debate with John Dupré at Borders Bookshop, Oxford Street, London, 8 October 1999. Chair: Ian McEwan.

1999 ‘From cold cognition to hotheads: rethinking the emotions’ Lecture given at the Café Scientifique, Leeds, on 25 May 1999, and at Leeds Metropolitan University as part of the MA in Psychoanalytic Studies on 26 May 1999.

1999 ‘From moods to modules: preliminary remarks for an evolutionary theory of mood phenomena’ Research seminar given at the London School of Economics and Political Science as part of the Darwin@LSE program. Respondent: Paul Ekman. Chair: Nicholas Humphrey. 19 May 1999.

1999 ‘The two cultures’ Lecture given at City University as part of the MA in Arts Criticism, 8 March 1999.

1999 ‘Evolutionary psychology: prospects for a map of the mind’ Lecture given at Newcastle University, 16 February 1999.

1999 ‘The units of selection problem in evolutionary biology’ Lecture given at the London School of Economics and Political Science, as part of the course ‘Scientific Method’ taught by Dr Carl Hoefer, 9 February 1999.

1998 ‘Lacan and twentieth century science’ Seminar given at the Centre for Theoretical Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences as part of their seminar programme on ‘Theory and Experience’, University of Essex, 16 October 1998.

1998 ‘Evolutionary psychology and the classification of mental disorders’ Lecture/seminar given at the Nineteenth Cape Cod Institute, as part of the course ‘Healing the Moral Animal’ organised by Dr James Brody, sponsored by the Albert Einstein Medical College of Yeshiva University, Cape Cod, Massachussetts, 22 July 1998.

1998 ‘Essentialism, promiscuous realism, and the classification of mental disorders’ Lecture/seminar given at Leeds Metropolitan University as part of the MA in Psychoanalytic Studies, Leeds, 6 May 1998.

1998 ‘Selfish genes and altruistic apes: the philosophy of biology’ Lecture given at St Paul’s School for Boys, Hammersmith, London to the Sixth Form Philosophy Society, 3 February 1999

1997 ‘Disability, essentialism and genetics’ Lecture/seminar given at Sheffield University as part of the MSc in Disability Studies, Sheffield, 17 October 1997.

1997 ‘Female fantasies in Lacanian theory’ Lecture given at the Femininity Seminar Series organised by the School of Cultural Studies at Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds, 17 February 1997.

1996 ‘Is the unconscious structured like a dictionary?’ Lecture given at Kent University on 26 April 1996, at Southampton University on 29 April 1996 and at Leeds Metropolitan University on 8 May 1996.

1995 ‘Successful misunderstanding: the dialogue between cultural theory and psychoanalysis’ Lecture given at the Cultural Studies Seminar Series organised by the School of Cultural Studies at Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds, 13 November 1995.

1993 ‘La linguistica estructural y Lacan’ Lecture given at the Jose T. Borda Hospital, Buenos Aires, 29 September 1993.

TELEVISION, FILM AND RADIO CREDITS:

2002 Member of on-screen psychology team for ‘Big Brother’, TV series produced by Endemol and Channel Four.

2002 Consultant for ‘The Hero Factor’, documentary TV series produced for Channel Four by October Films.

2000 Wrote and presented three five-minute inserts on the science of fear for the Halloween Film Season, Bravo TV, London.

1999 Wrote and presented two three-minute inserts for ‘Conflicts and Advice’, a two hour documentary on developmental psychology produced by Nueva Vida Productions, New York City.

1996 Wrote and presented ‘Psychoanalysing Diana’, a half-hour drama originally scheduled for transmission by British Television's Channel Four on 7 May 1996 but not shown.

Numerous interviews for Radio and TV, including ‘Today’, ‘Start the Week’, ‘Analysis’, ‘Material World’, ‘Emotional Rollercoaster’ and ‘Primitive Streaks’ (BBC Radio 4), ‘The John Dunn Show’ (BBC Radio 2), ‘The Richard and Judy Show’ (ITV), ‘Moneywise’ (BBC2), ‘The Sky Bookshow’ (Sky TV), ‘Let’s Talk’ (BBC1 Northern Ireland), ‘Sunday with Giles Brandreth’ (LBC Radio).

GRANTS AND AWARDS:

2005-06: Leverhulme Trust Artist-in-Residence award to enable France Cadet to pursue her artistic work in the Intelligent Autonomous Systems Lab at the University of the West of England (principal investigator): £3,600.

2004: EPSRC Partnership for Public Awareness (PPA) award (co-investigator with Professor Alan Winfield and Professor Frank Burnett): £12,500. EPSRC Grant Reference: GR/T26399/01.

2002-03: Leverhulme Trust Artist-in-Residence award to enable Dr Jane Prophet to pursue her artistic work in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Bath (principal investigator): £9,850.

1997-99: British Academy three-year studentship covering tuition and maintenance for studies leading to the PhD degree at the London School of Economics.

1996: Fulbright Commission Travel and Maintenance Award for study in the PhD program at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

1996: Tuition Scholarship awarded by the State University of New York at Buffalo for study in their PhD program.

1994-95: British Academy one-year studentship covering tuition and maintenance for studies leading to the MA degree at the University of Kent at Canterbury.

CONSULTANCIES:

2002-2003: Research conducted for Consolidated Communications.

2002: Research conducted for Focus PR.

EDITORIAL BOARDS AND REFEREEING FOR PEER-REVIEWED ACADEMIC JOURNALS:

On editorial board of Evolutionary Psychology (online journal), 2002 - present.

Occasional referee for British Journal of the Philosophy of Science, 1999 - present.

Occasional referee for Cognitive Science, 2005 - present.

AFFILIATIONS:

Research Associate, Sussex Centre for the Individual and Society (SCIS).

Member, British Fulbright Scholars Association (BFSA)

CONFERENCE PROGRAM COMMITTEES:

2005 ‘Agents that want and like: motivational and emotional roots of cognition and action’, a symposium of the AISB'05 conference, hosted at the University of Hertfordshire on 14-15 April.

2005: ‘The 2005 International Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction’ (ACII2005), hosted at Beijing Institute of Technology on 24-26 September.

2004: ‘Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems’ (TAROS04), hosted at the University of Essex on 6-8 September.

2002: ‘Emotion, Evolution and Rationality’, interdisciplinary conference hosted by the Philosophy Department at King’s College London on 27-28 April.

VOLUNTARY AND COMMUNITY WORK:

In 1995 I worked part-time as a volunteer counsellor in a clinical psychology department in Greenwich Healthcare NHS Trust. I was later employed by Oxleas NHS Trust in the same capacity.

I am a ‘Science and Engineering Ambassador’ for SETNET, the national network for Science and Engineering. Under this scheme, I have helped to run ‘Lego Robotics Challenge’ days for primary schools in the South West of the UK.

I give DJ lessons to local teenagers in youth clubs in and around Cirencester in Gloucestershire. In March – April 2003, I ran DJ classes for teenagers as part of the ‘Move to the Music Project’ organised by Cotswolds District Council.

LEISURE PURSUITS:

Reading
Learning how to live without modern technology
Walking in the countryside

This page was last updated: 5 February 2008.