Biography
I am a lecturer in Human Evolutionary and Behavioural Ecology. I completed my PhD and postdoctorate research as a member of the Hunter-Gatherer Resilience project which examined the cultural and behavioural adaptations of hunter-gatherer societies in Africa and Asia. I work principally with the Mbendjele BaYaka hunter-gatherers - a Pygmy population residing in the rainforests of Northern Congo. My research thus far has explored the role of cooperative networks and social relationships in human evolution; human life-history evolution; and the relationship between social structure and cultural transmission.
Currently, alongside a team at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, I'm thinking about how evolutionary approaches can advance our understanding of the aetiology of mental illness. I plan to investigate the prevalence of various mental disorders among hunter-gatherers, and explore the role of evolutionary mismatch in generating vulnerability to psychopathology in industrialised societies. I have also recently started a new project examining how specific features of social cognition - paranoia, threat detection, and in-group bias - respond flexibly to local socio-ecological conditions across London neighbourhoods; and whether dysregulation of these responses may increase the risk of schizophrenia.
Research
Human Social Evolution and Cooperation
Evolutionary Psychiatry
Applied Human Behavioural Ecology
Mating Systems
Cultural Evolution
Key Publications
Chaudhary, N. & Swanepoel, A. (2023). What Can We Learn from Hunter-Gatherers about Children’s Mental Health? An Evolutionary Perspective, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.
Chaudhary, N. & Salali, G.D. (2022). Hunter-Gatherers, Mismatch and Mental Disorder. In Abed, R. & St.John-Smith, P. (eds.) Evolutionary Psychiatry: Current Perspectives on Evolution and Mental Health. Cambridge University Press.
Knight, J.K., Salali, G.D., Sikka, G., Derkx, I., Keestra, S.M., Chaudhary, N.* (2021). Quantifying patterns of alcohol consumption and its effects on health and wellbeing among BaYaka hunter-gatherers: A mixed-methods cross-sectional study. PLoS ONE, 16(10): e0258384
Salali, G.D., Chaudhary, N., Bouer, J., Thompson, J., Vinicius, L., Migliano, A.B. (2019). Development of social learning and play in BaYaka hunter-gatherers of Congo. Scientific Reports, 9, 11080.
Smith, D., Schlaepfer, P., Major, K., Dyble, M., Page, A.E., Thompson, J., Chaudhary, N., Salali, G.D., Mace, R., Astete, L., Astete, M., Vinicius, L., Migliano, A.B. (2017). Cooperation and the evolution of hunter-gatherer storytelling. Nature Communications, 8(1).
Page, A. E., Chaudhary, N., Viguier, S., Dyble, M., Smith, D., Salali, G.D., Thompson, J., Vinicius, L., Mace, R., Migliano, A. B. (2017). Hunter-Gatherer Social Networks and Reproductive Success. Scientific Reports, 7(1), 41598.
Migliano A.B., Page A., Gardenes, J.G., Salali G.D., Viguier, S., Dyble M., Latora, V., Chaudhary N., Thompson J., Smith D., Strods, J., Vinicius L., Mace R. (2017). Characterisation of hunter-gatherer networks and implications for cumulative culture. Nature Human Behaviour, 1(2), 0043 (cover story of the February 2017 issue).
Page, A. E., Viguier, S., Dyble, M., Smith, D., Chaudhary, N., Salali, G.D., Thompson, J., Vinicius, L., Mace, R., Migliano, A. B. (2016) Reproductive trade-offs in extant hunter-gatherers suggest adaptive mechanism for the Neolithic expansion. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(17), 4694-4699.
Dyble, M., Salali, G.D., Chaudhary, N., Page, A., Smith, D., Thompson, J., Vinicius, L., Mace, R., Migliano, A.B. (2015). Sex equality can explain the unique social structure of hunter-gatherer bands. Science, 348(6236), 796-798.
Chaudhary, N., Salali, G.D., Thompson, J., Dyble, M., Page, A., Smith, D., Mace R., Migliano A.B. (2015). Polygyny without wealth: popularity in gift games predicts polygyny in BaYaka Pygmies. Royal Society Open Science, 2(5), 150054.
Page, A.E., Emmott, E.H., Dyble, M., Smith, D., Chaudhary, N., Viguier, S., Migliano, A.B. (2021). Children are important too: juvenile playgroups and maternal childcare in a foraging population, the Agta.Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society B, 376, 20200026.
Salali, G.D., Dyble, M., Chaudhary, N., Sikka, G., Derkx, I., Keestra, S., Smith, D., Thompson, J., Vinicius, L., Migliano, A.B (2020). Global WEIRDing: transitions in wild plant knowledge and treatment preferences in Congo hunter–gatherers. Human Evolutionary Sciences, 2, e24.
Deb A. & Chaudhary N. (2020). Anxiety. In depth entry in: Shackelford T., Weekes-Shackelford V. (eds.) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer.
Page, A.E., Thomas, M.G., Smith, D., Dyble, M., Viguier, S., Chaudhary, N., Salali, G.D., Thompson, J., Mace, R., Migliano, A.B. (2020). Testing adaptive hypotheses of alloparenting in Agta foragers. Nature Human Behaviour, 3, 1154-1163.
Smith, D., Dyble, M., Major, K., Page, A.E., Chaudhary, N., Salali, G.D., Thompson, J., Vinicius, L., Migliano, A.B., Mace, R. (2019). A Friend in need is a friend indeed: Need-based sharing, rather than cooperative assortment, predicts experimental resource transfers among Agta hunter-gatherers. Evolution and Human Behaviour, 40(1), 82-89.
Diekmann, Y., Smith, D., Gerbault, P., Dyble, M., Page, A.E., Chaudhary, N., Migliano, A.B., Thomas, M.G. (2017). Accurate age estimation in small-scale societies. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(31), 8205-8210.
Salali, G.D., Chaudhary, N., Thompson, J., Grace, O., van der Brugt, X.M., Dyble, M., Page, A., Smith, D., Lewis, J., Mace, R., Vinicius, L., Migliano, A.B. (2016). Knowledge sharing networks in hunter-gatherers and the evolution of cumulative culture. Current Biology, 26(18), 2516-2521.
Chaudhary, N., Salali, G.D., Thompson, J., Rey, A., Stevenson, E., Gerbault, P., Dyble, M., Page, A., Smith, D., Vinicius, L., Mace, R., Migliano, A.B. (2016). Competition for Cooperation: variability, benefits and heritability of relational wealth in hunter-gatherers. Scientific Reports, 6(8), 29120.
Dyble, M., Thompson, J., Page, A., Smith, D., Chaudhary, N., Salali, G.D., Vinicius, L., Mace, R., Migliano, A.B. (2016). Networks of Food Sharing Reveal the Functional Significance of Multilevel Sociality in Two Hunter-Gatherer Groups. Current Biology, 26(15), 2017-2021.
Chaudhary, N. (2016). The Polygyny Threshold – key idea in: T. Shackelford & V. Weekes-Shackelford (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer
Smith, D., Dyble, M., Thompson, J., Major, K., Page, A., Chaudhary, N., Salali, G.D., Vinicius, L., Migliano, A., Mace, R. (2016). Camp Stability Predicts Patterns of Hunter-Gatherer Cooperation. Royal Society Open Science, 3(7), 160131.
Teaching and Supervisions
I coordinate the following courses:
B2: Human Ecology and Behaviour
B15: Human Social Evolution: Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Cooperation, Culture and Cognition
Other Professional Activities
Executive Committee member of Evolutionary Psychiatry Special Interest Group, The Royal College of Psychiatrists
