Jerome Lewis

Jerome Lewis is Reader in Social Anthropology at University College London, where he also serves as Co-Director of the Extreme Citizen Science Research Group and the Centre for the Anthropology of Sustainability. A leading authority on Central African hunter-gatherers, he combines long-term ethnographic fieldwork with participatory technology design to advance indigenous rights and environmental justice.

Education

• PhD Anthropology, London School of Economics and Political Science (2002)

Research Interests

Lewis’s scholarship focuses on egalitarian politics, ritual and play, and the evolution of language and music among hunter-gatherer societies. He is internationally recognised for developing Extreme Citizen Science—a methodological framework that empowers non-literate communities to collect and analyse data on their own terms through software such as Sapelli. His work on participatory mapping, free, prior and informed consent (FPIC), and indigenous rights has directly influenced forestry governance across the Congo Basin.

Scientific Awards & Honours

• 2017 & 2016: Outstanding Teacher Award, University of London Union
• 2015: William Fagg Lecturer, British Museum
• 2014: NT100 List, Nominet Trust
• 2010: Cuthbert Peek Award, Royal Geographical Society
• 2008: Dubai International Award for Best Practice
• 2007: Technology Museum Laureate
• 2006: Environmental Innovation Award, Timber Trade Journal
• 2005: E-tutor of the Year commendation, Times Higher Education Supplement

Grants & Supervision

Lewis has secured over €5 million in competitive funding, including Horizon 2020, Leverhulme Trust, and ESRC awards. He currently supervises nine doctoral researchers working on topics from water justice in Mexico to architectural decolonisation in Rwanda. Past supervisees have investigated Mbendjele cultural transmission, Malagasy agricultural practices, and gender dynamics among Idu-Mishmi communities.

Research Groups & Labs

He co-leads the Extreme Citizen Science Research Group within UCL’s Chorley Institute, and is affiliated with the Human Ecology Research Group and the Sustainability, Environment and the Culture of Materials Research Group. Through the Ethnographic Insights Lab he provides consultancy services to NGOs, governments and industry on community engagement and sustainable resource management.