David W Lawson is an evolutionary and cultural anthropologist interested in family life, gender and global health. He directs the Applied Evolutionary Anthropology Lab at UCSB. His research aims to better understand conflicts and trade-offs in family relationships, and in turn inform related public/global health practice. To do this he conducts mixed-methods field research, mostly in Tanzania, online surveys and secondary analyses of demographic datasets. He completed his PhD in Anthropology in 2009 from University College London (UCL), before doing postdoctoral fellowships at both UCL and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Grants, Awards and Distinctions:

Cultural Evolution Society Transformation Fund - Norm misperception and conformity as barriers to positive change in gender ideology: a mixed methods study in northern Tanzania. $107,165

National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant - The cost of change: The social and reproductive ramifications for men supporting women’s empowerment. $25,175

National Science Foundation Senior Research Award (PI). 2019-2020. Assessing the Costs and Benefits of Cultural Practices. $199,074. 

Hellman Fellowship (PI). 2018-2019. Understanding Men’s Incentives for Women’s Empowerment: Testing predictions from sexual conflict theory in Tanzania. $40,905.

UCSB Regents Junior Faculty Fellowship (PI). 2019. Understanding Men’s Incentives for Women’s Empowerment: Testing predictions from sexual conflict theory in Tanzania. $7,500.