Nicolas Fay

Nicolas Fay is an Associate Professor in the School of Psychological Science at The University of Western Australia (UWA). He holds a PhD from the University of Glasgow (2000) and has held postdoctoral positions at the University of Edinburgh and Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute in Kyoto before joining UWA in 2004. His research focuses on social influence processes including misinformation dynamics, cultural evolution, and the origins of language and communication systems.

Key research areas include:

• Informational Influence: Designing effective information transmission strategies
• Interpersonal Influence: Social interaction dynamics and shared understanding
• Group Influence: Optimization of group decision-making
• Cultural Influence: Drivers of cultural/language evolution
• Malign Influence: Combating misinformation spread

Recent work emphasizes experimental methods combining laboratory studies, computational simulations, and social network analysis. Notable projects include investigating misinformation correction efficacy, AI's role in combating disinformation, and the cultural evolution of symbolic communication systems.

He has secured 13 grants including major projects like 'Combatting Information Warfare' (2024-2026) and 'Large Language Models in Disinformation Detection' (2024-2025). Supervised 9 research students focusing on topics like aphasia communication and cultural transmission mechanisms.

Labs/Teams: Leads interdisciplinary projects involving cognitive science, computer science, and social anthropology collaborations. Active member of UWA's Social and Decision Neuroscience Group.