Robin Dunbar stands as a preeminent figure in evolutionary anthropology and psychology with a distinguished career spanning five decades. He currently holds the position of Emeritus Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Oxford and is an Emeritus Fellow of Magdalen College following his service as Director of the Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology. After receiving his BA, PhD, and DSc (Hons), Dunbar established himself through academic appointments at the University of Bristol, University of Cambridge from 1977 to 1982, University College London from 1987 to 1994, and the University of Liverpool from 1994 to 2007. His transition to Oxford in 2007 marked a significant phase in his research career, where he secured competitive funding including a European Research Council Advanced Investigator grant.
Dunbar's seminal contribution to science is his eponymous Dunbar's number, which theorizes that humans can maintain approximately 150 stable social connections, a concept that emerged from his investigation into primate grooming behaviors and neocortical size constraints. His interdisciplinary research program has fundamentally reshaped understanding of human social evolution by connecting neurological, cognitive, and behavioral changes across the evolutionary timeline as detailed in his influential book Human Evolution Our Brains and Behavior. With an impressive scholarly output comprising 550 journal articles and 15 academic books, his work has established critical frameworks for analyzing primate sociality and the evolution of human communities. Dunbar's time budget model has proven particularly influential in explaining the sequence of cognitive changes that distinguish human evolution from other primates.
His leadership extends beyond his own research through directing the British Academy Centenary Research Project From Lucy to Language The Archaeology of the Social Brain and mentoring the next generation of scholars including postdoctoral students like Anna Machin. Dunbar's contributions have been recognized with prestigious honors including the Huxley Memorial Medal from the Royal Anthropological Institute, the highest honor bestowed by the organization, awarded in 2015 for his services to anthropology. As an elected Fellow of the British Academy and Royal Anthropological Institute, he continues to influence the field through his participation in major research initiatives and public engagement. His ongoing work examines the evolutionary foundations of human social behavior, exploring how our cognitive architecture shapes contemporary social interactions in an increasingly digital world.
