We received a substantial number of high-quality applications for each award: 12 applications for the two ACE Early Career Research Awards, and 8 applications for the ACE Travel Awards. All submissions were carefully evaluated by the same panel of reviewers. We extend our heartfelt thanks to the reviewers for their thorough and thoughtful assessments.
ACE Early Career Research Awards
These awards of up to $3000 each support high-quality research projects with the potential to address key questions, fill critical knowledge gaps, and advance the field of cultural evolution. The recipients of the 2024 awards are:
Title: Cross-hemisphere comparison of a potential cultural foraging tactic in humpback whales
Abstract: Humpback whales are an excellent study species for culture in animals, particularly as a non-primate mammal. This project will explore the development of a potential cultural foraging tactic found in this species: bubble net feeding, where whales blow bubbles to form nets that entrap their prey. A variant of this tactic studied in a North Atlantic population provides one of the clearest examples of cultural transmission in the animal kingdom. We will use animal-borne video tags to explore its transmission and use in two novel study populations: the western Antarctic Peninsula and the Gulf of Alaska. This work will contribute the first direct behavioural comparison between two independent populations of humpback whales. More importantly, it will be the first cross-hemisphere comparative study of its kind for this species. This project will produce foundational research to advance future work on cultural foraging preferences in cetaceans.
Title: Cultural adaptation and language persistence in San Basilio de Palenque
Abstract: The Palenque project aims to systematically document and analyze the economic, demographic, and linguistic structure of San Basilio de Palenque, an Afro-descendant Colombia community that retains its endangered Creole language, Palenquero. By training local research assistants in digital data collection methods, and working in collaboration with the local Palenque Community Council, the project aims to solidify a sustainable, community-centered research model. The project focuses on tracking the persistence and transmission of Palenquero using a longitudinal panel study design, and examines how shifts in network structure, and economic and social conditions, affect language use and the practice of code-switching between Palenquero and Spanish. Combining linguistic data with demographic and economic surveys, the project hopes to provide insights into how and why individuals adapt their cultural practices, including linguistic practices, in response to changing social and economic contexts, contributing to a broader understanding of cultural adaptation and language evolution in multi-ethnic contexts.
ACE Travel Award
These awards of up to $1500 per person were granted to researchers from low-and middle-income countries to support their attendance at the CES 2024 conference in Durham. The recipients of the 2024 awards are:
Vinod Chellan, Cochin University of Science and Technology
Title of the talk: Adapting traditions: the changing life of the Chollanaikkan tribe
Seetha Kakkoth, Kannur University
Title of the talk: “Harmony through Prohibition”: Cultural Insights on Food Taboos and Social Learning for Ecosystem Conservation among Cholanaickan, South India
Alexander Mwjiage Ishungisa, Muhimbili UNiversity of Health and Applied Sciences
Title of the talk: What do other men think? Understanding (mis)perceptions of peer gender role ideology among young Tanzanian men
Henrique Rufo, University of Sao Paulo
Title of the talk: Innovation, diffusion and generalization of probe tool use in a group of tufted capuchin monkeys (Sapajus libidinosus)