Gillian Pepper
PhD Student
Supervisors: Daniel Nettle and Gilbert Roberts
Research group: Centre for Behaviour and Evolution
Email: g.pepper@ncl.ac.uk
Address: Institute of Neuroscience, Framlington Place, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 4HH
Introduction/Area of work:
As an undergraduate I studied Zoology with Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Liverpool. I went on to gain experience in science policy and communication with a number of organisations. For example, most recently, I worked for 2 years as a communications manager at the Department of Health. During this time I also completed my MSc in Evolutionary Psychology at Brunel University.
I am interested in the impact of socioeconomic and health inequalities on human behaviour. Evidence suggests that in geographical areas with high levels of relative deprivation, there is a greater incidence of some health and social problems. Among other things, greater inequality has been found to be associated with; lower trust (or social capital), more mental illness, high infant mortality, high obesity rates, poorer educational performance, more teenage births, more homicides, and less social mobility. In addition, socioeconomic inequality has been found to be highly negatively correlated with life expectancy. I want to answer two main questions: 1) what are the psychological and behavioural mechanisms behind the correlations between inequality, life expectancy and health and social problems? 2) Which behaviours are triggered by socioeconomic inequality and which are a response to differential life expectancy? I propose to do this using a combination of psychological experiments, ethological investigations and analysis of demographic data.
Qualifications:
BSc (Hons) Zoology with Evolutionary Psychology
MSc (Distinction) Evolutionary Psychology
Awards and bursaries:
Liverpool University Interdisciplinary Bridging Award
Publications and conferences:
Pepper, G.V. & Roberts, S.C. 2006. Rates of Nausea and vomiting in pregnancy and dietary characteristics across populations. Proc. R. Soc., B 273 2675-2679
Changing the Face of Our Lives, published in the Bulletin of the British Neuroscience Association, spring 2007 as part of the National Brain-Science Writing Prize
