At the 2024 CES conference in Durham we were delighted to announce the winners of the biannual CES awards.

The CES New Investigator award is given to a researcher who has shown outstanding contribution and potential in the field within 5 years of gaining their PhD.

This award is intended to highlight and recognise the emerging researchers who have already made an impact on our field through their scholarship, or by integrating their research activities with superlative mentorship or training or academic service that has contributed to enhancing the scientific impact of the field. The winner of the award will be given the opportunity to present a plenary talk highlighting their work at the next CES conference, with the cost of travel, accommodation and registration fee covered by the award.

The 2024 New Investigator Award was given to Helena Miton of Stanford Graduate School of Business.

The evaluation committee commented:
“We were impressed by Helena’s diverse array of studies on topics such as bloodletting, vaccination, music, and art, which have shed new light on human culture and cognition within the cultural attraction framework. We appreciated her deep contribution to open science, the role of women in science, and commend the strong emphasis on public outreach and bringing cultural evolution to other fields.”

The Richerson Award is given in honour of Pete Richerson. Pete has been a key figure in shaping and guiding the field of cultural evolution over many decades and this award aims to highlight new researchers who will go on to shape and guide our field. The Richerson Award is offered to a recent graduate who has produced the best PhD in the field of cultural evolution. The recipient will receive a $300 award, a three-year society membership, and a waiver of registration fees for the next CES conference.

The 2024 Richerson Award for Outstanding Doctoral Thesis is jointly awarded to two top-ranked candidates:

1. Michael Chimento from the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior.
The committee was impressed by Michael’s dissertation that explored the influence of social processes and structures on cultural evolution. We found the thesis to be a powerful combination of experimental and computational modelling, that started with experiments, moved to models, and then culminated in a big picture review.

2. Cameron M. Curtin from Harvard University.
The committee was impressed by Cameron’s dissertation on the cultural evolutionary roots of prosociality in Oaxaca, Mexico. We appreciated the nuanced combination of ethnographic and quantitative analysis used to examine how institutions play a role in stabilizing cooperation within groups across multiple scales and multiple approaches. We also commended their support of, and engagement with, the local community.

Congratulations to all three awardees!