Cambridge Journal of Human Behaviour

Social Anthropology

PhD Candidate in Sociology and Anthropology, University of Bucharest (2019–2024); Awarded Fulbright Student Researcher Award; Former Graduate Fellow at MIT Language & Technology Lab
B.A. Communication & Public Relations, National School of Political and Administrative Studies (SNSPA); B.A. Sociology & Anthropology, University of Bucharest; M.A. Sociology of Consumers & Marketing, University of Bucharest

Interests: technology, consumption, domestic space, smart devices, media, Eastern Europe

A comment on Social Anthropology and the Journal’s mission:

“Social anthropology is an exciting avenue for an undergraduate journal because its disciplinary grounding in the intimate and the specific makes it particularly easy for undergraduates with limited formal training to make original and interesting contributions. Whilst sustaining a focus on in-depth engagement with a specific group of persons and an implicitly or explicity comparative perspective, we hope that contributors will find this section a particularly fertile route for blurring disciplinary lines and synthesising different methodologies in electrifying ways. A vital element of social anthropology’s connection to the theme of ‘human behaviour’ is a fundamental orientation towards viewing human behaviour as inherently social. From a discussion of anime subreddits, medical procedures, Cambridge college-based rituals, TikTok trends, cross-cultural comparison of breastfeeding trends to literally anything else that can be well-substantiated and interestingly framed, we would like to encourage contributors to be as creative as possible in interpreting this. Given the scope of undergraduate research, we encourage—but not limit—contributors to consider focusing on literature and/or communities that they are already somewhat familiar with and bring in their own positionalities as young, uniquely situated, and/or digitally native persons.“

~Inika Murkumbi

Biological Anthropology

Professional field archaeologist; M.A. in Archaeology and Heritage, University of Leicester (2023–2024)

B.A. Archaeology, University of Cambridge

Interests: landscape archaeology, archaeoastronomy, phenomenology, heritage, and education

A comment on Biological Anthropology and the Journal’s mission:

“The core tenet of biological anthropology is that human culture cannot be understood without understanding human biology and human biology cannot be understood without understanding human culture. By definition, biological anthropology is anthropocentric, but it takes seriously the fact that humans are animals and studies them as such. Although recognizing our inescapable animal nature, it applauds human uniqueness while constantly challenging the inherited wisdom of the modern Western academic tradition of the ways in which we are exceptional. Biological anthropology is not so much an academic discipline rather than an amalgamation of many. Fields such as paleoanthropology, evolutionary anthropology, human evolutionary ecology, human behavioral ecology, primatology, genetics, evolutionary biology, paleolithic archaeology, evolutionary psychology, and cultural anthropology often either fall under biological anthropology or their concepts and evidence are heavily drawn on by it. Biological anthropology acts as a bridge between the natural sciences and humanities recognizing no clear boundary between the two, just as it works to illuminate the blurred boundary between biology and culture.”

~Liam McClain

Psychological and Behavioural Sciences

Former Co-President of CUBISS

B.A. Psychological & Behavioral Sciences, University of Cambridge

Interests: criminological psychology, developmental psychology, and behavioural insights

A comment on Psychological and Behavioural Sciences and the Journal’s mission:

“The Psychological and Behavioural Sciences section of the Journal offers a gorgeously rich and uniquely human-based approach. Here, human behaviour is understood as the culmination of a multiplicity of interacting individual differences which shape an individual’s mentality, cognition, and behaviour. One could focus on a specific individual difference such as ‘attachment’ and explore how myriads of behaviour are differentially affected by individual variation in such a quality. Alternatively, but not mutually exclusively, one could focus on a phenomenon such as ‘pro-sociality’ and explore the contributing individual differences that comprise one’s capability in that phenomenon. Indeed, human behaviour may be understood through the consideration of psychological lenses and perspectives; the developmental, psycho-analytical, historical, intersectional, genetic, cross-cultural, social, and criminological perspectives can be utilised to explore a variety of topics within the Psychological and Behavioural Sciences. Use of such perspectives may be most convincing when accompanied by necessary critiques of methodological and structural challenges. We strongly encourage authors to engage with these topics, which can be highly sensitive, with respect and care. Further, we encourage authors to engage with the psychological perspective through an interdisciplinary lens, perhaps exploring links or comparing and contrasting approaches in the Psychological, Anthropological and Natural Scientific perspectives.“

Natural Sciences

NERC-Endorsed Research Student: “Global warming: Ecological impacts on biotic interactions”

Part I: Evolution and Behaviour, Biology of Cells, Chemistry, Mathematical Biology, Evolution and Animal Diversity, Cell and Developmental Biology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
Part II: Major in Genetics with Minor in Biological Anthropology.

Interests: genetic and epigenetic dynamics of behaviour, comparative animal behaviour and evolution, coevolution, inheritance, and genes versus environment.

A comment on Natural Sciences and the Journal’s mission:

“The concept of behaviour encompasses a range of phenomena, some more quantitative and quantifiable than others. While this may originally appear to be to our disadvantage, it provides us with an incredible opportunity to explore the interdisciplinary space of human studies. An approach to human behaviour through the biological sciences aims to resolve it through a range of scales associated with different scientific fields. Within genetics, we may explore how molecular scale DNA events influence behaviour, and study the basis for its heritability. Such concepts will serve as a basis to understand human evolution and long term trends in behaviour, acting as a powerful foundation for anthropological study. Biological sciences may further allow us to explore the neural and hormonal basis of behaviour from a physiological point of view, complementing the psychological field. In essence, biology investigates how organisms may interact with each other and their environment, such that it may also be significant to understand human behaviour within the animal kingdom through a comparative biology approach, or further through mathematical models of decision making and behaviour optimality in biotic interactions. These concepts warrant enough credit on their own, but also serve as a foundation upon which other sections of this journal can be understood.“