I am Scientia Professor of Evolution at UNSW Sydney, where I founded and, from 2007-2019, directed the Evolution and Ecology Research Centre.
My research mostly considers the conflicting evolutionary interests that make sex sizzle and render reproduction complicated. Working on both human and non-human animals, my fabulous research group (the SEX LAB), my collaborators, and I explore the evolutionary and ecological consequences of sexual reproduction. We study evolution because of its power to help us understand both nature and the human condition.
This website is mostly about my writing and speaking for popular audiences. My first book, Sex, Genes & Rock ‘n’ Roll: How Evolution has Shaped the Modern World (2011, NewSouth Books), won the 2012 Queensland Literary Award for Science Writing. In 2013, I also won Australia’s most prestigious award for science communication, the Eureka Prize.
I write for various websites and magazines, including The Conversation and Medium.
One of my great research interests at the moment is to understand what happens when our evolved human natures, forged over millions of years, crash into new and often fast-moving cultural, economic, and technological realities. My second book Artificial Intimacy: Virtual friends, digital lovers and algorithmic matchmakers (2012, NewSouth Books), considers humanity’s evolved capacities for friendship, love, and intimacy, and what happens when they encounter new technologies like social media, online dating, and virtual reality sex.
Follow me @Brooks_Rob on Twitter, and please join my writing Facebook page.