His research focuses on human evolution, with a particular interest in understanding the ecological foundations of the patterns and processes that have shaped the evolution of human behavior. His work covers topics such as social evolution, hominin speciation and extinction, the ecology of hunter-gatherer societies, the origins of modern humans, and the application of evolutionary models to human evolution. He has worked with both paleobiological and contemporary biological methods. He has made significant contributions to the development of the field of the African origin of modern humans, integrating data from fossils, genetics, and archaeology. He currently leads field projects focused on the evolution of modern humans in Africa, in collaboration with Marta Mirazón Lahr, with whom he co-founded the Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies.
