Sergey Gavrilets

Sergey Gavrilets is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and the Department of Mathematics at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He holds affiliations with the Institute for Advanced Studies Toulouse, the School of Anthropology at the University of Oxford, and the Complexity Science Hub Vienna. His research focuses on evolutionary processes in biological and social systems, particularly human origins, social complexity, cultural evolution, and the coevolution of behavior and beliefs. Gavrilets uses mathematical models and agent-based simulations to explore topics like sexual conflict, speciation, and genetic variation dynamics. He has led major initiatives including the Center for the Dynamics of Social Complexity (DySoC) and contributed to the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS). His work is supported by grants from NIH, NSF, and the John Templeton Foundation.

Education: Ph.D., Moscow State University

Research interests include human origins, social norms, cultural evolution, and evolutionary dynamics. He integrates biology, mathematics, and social sciences to address questions about cooperation, conflict, and institutional development. Key areas of focus include:

• Evolutionary origins of social institutions
• Cultural transmission mechanisms
• Mathematical modeling of social dilemmas

Recent publications emphasize interdisciplinary approaches to social norm dynamics, cooperation under inequality, and the evolutionary basis of social complexity. Gavrilets' work bridges theoretical and empirical research, influencing both biological and social science disciplines.