Biography
Dr Adam D. Hunt received his PhD in 2024 from the University of Zürich, for his dissertation titled ‘Evolving Evolutionary Psychiatry and Explaining Neurodiversity’. He has been researching evolutionary psychiatry since 2016, following a BA and MA concentrating on the philosophy of science. He has published several papers on evolutionary approaches to autism and neurodiversity, addiction, and the integration of evolutionary perspectives into medicine and psychiatry, and is working on his first book. He has organized symposia, workshops, and a special issue in the journal Evolution, Medicine and Public Health (where he is an associate editor) on mental health in non-industrialized populations. Dr Hunt is actively involved in academic societies, including roles with the International Society for Evolution, Medicine and Public Health and the Royal College of Psychiatrists' Evolutionary Psychiatry Special Interest Group. His research fellowship is being funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation.
Research
Dr Hunt’s previous research concentrated primarily on strengthening the theoretical foundations of evolutionary psychiatry and explaining neurodiversity evolutionarily; his current research is directed at assessing the practical consequences of evolutionary perspectives on mental health, particularly via destigmatising and altering patient and public attitudes.
Key Publications
- Hunt, A.D; Procyshyn, T. (2024) “Changing Perspectives on Autism: Overlapping Contributions of Evolutionary Psychiatry and the Neurodiversity Movement” Autism Research, https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.3078
- Hunt, A.D; Merola, G.P; Carpenter, T; Jaeggi, A.V. “Evolutionary perspectives on Substance and Behavioural Addictions: distinct and shared pathways to understanding, prediction and prevention” Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105603
- Hunt, A.D; Jaeggi, A.V. (tbc) “The DCIDE Method: evolutionary explanations beyond just-so storytelling, exemplified with autism” Under review
- Hunt, A.D. (2023) “Making Wakefield Workable: The Fitness and Function Framework for Taxonomising Evolutionary Dysfunction.” PsyArXiv. doi:10.31234/osf.io/qbgke.
- Hunt, A.D. (2023) “Making Wakefield Warranted: The Hierarchy of Healing Harm and Discerning Dysfunction.” PsyArXiv. doi:10.31234/osf.io/jmsnx.
- Katiyar, T*; Hunt, A.D*; Chaudhary, N; Jaeggi, A. V. (2023) “An Antidote to Overpathologizing Computer-mediated Communication: An Evolutionary Perspective on Mixed Effects of Mismatch.” PsyArXiv. doi:10.31234/osf.io/t4azn.
- Hunt, A.D; St John Smith, P; Abed, R. (2023) “Evobiopsychosocial Medicine” Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health, pp.67–77 doi:10.1093/emph/eoac041
- Hunt, A. D.; Jaeggi, A.V. (2022) “Specialised minds: extending adaptive explanations of personality to the evolution of psychopathology”, Evolutionary Human Sciences
- Hunt, A.D; St John Smith, P; Abed, R. (2022) “The Biopsychosocial Model Advanced by Evolutionary Theory” in Evolutionary Psychiatry: Current Perspectives on Evolution and Mental Health edited by Abed, R and St John-Smith, P.
Other Professional Activities
Communications Director for the International Society for Evolution, Medicine and Public Health (ISEMPH)
Executive Committee member of the Evolutionary Psychiatry Special Interest Group, Royal College of Psychiatrists