European Research Council funded PDRA

You can download my full CV here

Career:

• Wellcome VIP Fellowship, University of Sheffield (2010-2011)
• Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Sheffield (2009-2010)
• Associate Lecturer, University of Derby (2008)
• PhD, University of Sheffield (2005-2009). Thesis title: Life-history consequences of developmental conditions in humans (supervisors: Dr. Virpi Lummaa & Dr. Andrew Russell)
• BSc (Hons) Zoology, University of Glasgow (1999-2004). Project title: "Associations between birthweight, prenatal environmental factors and adult morphometrics in humans".

Research Interests:

My principle area of interest is using the theoretical framework of evolutionary ecology to understand the role of the developmental environment in influencing individual variation in mammals, primarily humans.

In my PhD I established that food availability in early life could have profound consequences for individual reproductive success in a preindustrial human population (Rickard et al. 2010, Ecology), thus crucially early-life experiences can influence trait evolution. Ultimately, I aim to understand how natural selection has shaped the way the developing individual responds to variation in environmental conditions to produce long-term effects on biology and behaviour. There are far-reaching implications of this approach for understanding individual variation in a broad range of species, as well as the full range of human sciences.

Other themes of particular interest to me are: how the environmental effects on traits are modified by the environment in which they are expressed, both within and between populations (Rickard & Lummaa 2007, Trends. Endocrinol. Metab.); how such effects act across the age of the individual; how early environmental effects can be influenced by other individuals, such as parents (Rickard et al. 2007, Proc R Soc B; Rickard 2008, Evol. Hum. Behav; Rickard et al. 2009, Evol. Hum. Behav, Rickard 2008, J. Evol. Psychol.); how trait covariation is related to early experience and the evolutionary fitness; genetic variation in the above.

I primarily use historical datasets that enable the relationship between the early environment and individual evolutionary fitness to be measured. However I am also using large contemporary sources that combine reproductive outcomes with morphological, physiological and psychological measures. In the future I also aim to use animal models to address these questions.

Publications

• RICKARD IJ, Holopainen J, Helama S, Helle S, Russell AF & Lummaa V 2010 Food availability at birth limited reproductive success in historical humans. Ecology, in press.

• Jokela M, Rotkirch A, RICKARD IJ, Pettay JP & Lummaa V 2010 Serial monogamy and reproductive success in a contemporary human population. Behavioral Ecology, in press. PDF

• RICKARD IJ, Lummaa V & Russell AF 2009 Elder brothers affect the life-history of younger siblings pre-industrial humans: social consequence or biological cost? Evolution and Human Behavior, 30, 49-57. PDF

• RICKARD IJ 2008 Kanazawa's 'Generarized Trivers-Willard hypothesis' and the heritability of offspring sex ratio. Journal of Evolutionary Psychology 4, 255-260. PDF

• RICKARD IJ 2008 Offspring are lighter at birth and smaller in adulthood when born after a brother versus a sister in humans. Evolution and Human Behavior, 29, 196-200. PDF

• RICKARD IJ, Russell AF & Lummaa V 2007: Producing sons reduces lifetime reproductive success of subsequent offspring in pre-industrial Finns. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B PDF

• RICKARD IJ & Lummaa V 2007 The predictive adaptive response and metabolic syndrome – challenges for the hypothesis. Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism 18: 94-99. PDF

Presentations

Invited Talks

• School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, UK (2010)
• School of Biological Sciences, University of Liverpool, UK (2010)
• Developmental Origins of Health and Disease, Southampton School of Medicine, UK (2010)
• Department of Biology, University of Turku, Finland (2010)
• Computational and Evolutionary Biology, University of Manchester, UK (2009)
• Research Institute of Integrative and Comparative Biology, University of Leeds, UK (2009)
• BENELUX Zoology Congress, Wageningen, Netherlands (2009)
• Wild Evolution Group, University of Edinburgh, UK (2008)

Congress Talks

• 13th Meeting of the International Society for Behavioural Ecology, Perth, Australia (2010)
• 12th European Society for Evolutionary Biology Meeting, Turin, Italy (2009)
• 21st Meeting of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Fullerton, USA (2009)
• 4th European Human Behaviour and Evolution Association Meeting, St Andrews, UK (2009)
• Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour Winter Meeting, London, UK (2008)
• British Ecological Society Meeting, London, UK (2007)
• 12th Meeting of the International Society for Behavioural Ecology, Ithaca, USA (2008)
• 20th Meeting of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Kyoto, Japan (2008)
• 3rd European Human Behaviour and Evolution Association Meeting, Montpellier, France (2008)
• British Ecological Society Meeting, Glasgow, UK (2007)
• Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour Summer Meeting, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK (2007)
• European Meeting of Postgraduate Students in Evolutionary Biology, St Andrews, UK (2006)
• Yorkshire Universities Evolution Group Meeting, Hull, UK (2006)
• Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour Easter Meeting, Nottingham, UK (2006)
• 1st European Human Behaviour and Evolution Association Meeting, London, UK (2006)

Media

My research has been covered (mostly in consultation with myself) in Science, New Scientist, Scientific American, The Scotsman, The Daily Mail, The Telegraph (India). The Times (India), The Times, BBC online, Yorkshire Post. Discussing my own work, I have appeared on BBC Radio Sheffield (breakfast news) and the BBC World Service (Science In Action).

Science In Action on the BBC World Service, radio interview by Sue Broom about the effects of big brothers on younger siblings: MP3 (1,3MB)