An interdisciplinary conference in Toulouse
Last week, we successfully hosted the 12th annual Toulouse Economics and Biology Workshop at IAST and the Toulouse School of Economics.
I had been organizing this conference as the lead organizer for more than a year, and I am so glad for all the hard work to finally come to fruition.
This year’s workshop focused on a theme central to my research interests: sex differences in human life history evolution.
Together with my co-organizers Pablo Varas Enriquez (Max Planck Institute) and Ilaria Pretelli (IAST), we brought together leading experts from evolutionary anthropology, biology, archaeology, genetics, demography, and economics for two days of stimulating discussions.
Bridging disciplines to understand human life history
Life history traits, such as developmental timing, reproductive patterns, growth trajectories, and lifespan—define the human life course and exhibit striking sex-specific differences. While these differences have been extensively documented across disciplines, researchers studying childhood development, reproductive strategies, cooperative care systems, residence patterns, and aging often work in relative isolation. Our conference aimed to bridge these subdisciplines and foster dialogue between scholars who approach human life history evolution from distinct theoretical and methodological perspectives. The speaker lineup reflected this interdisciplinary vision. Demographic perspectives were provided by Ronald Lee (UC Berkeley) on intergenerational resource flows, while Chris Kuzawa (Harvard) discussed developmental plasticity and early-life programming. Pat Monaghan (University of Glasgow) examined fundamental trade-offs between somatic maintenance and reproduction, and Ben Trumble (Arizona State) presented evolutionary perspectives on human health across the lifespan. Economic approaches to understanding sex differences were contributed by Richard Akresh (University of Illinois) and Siwan Anderson (Vancouver School of Economics), while Raphaelle Chaix (Université Paris Cité) discussed genetic evidence for sex-specific evolutionary processes.
I presented ongoing collaborative work with Laurent Lehmann (University of Lausanne) examining how intergenerational transfers affect life history evolution. Our theoretical work shows how resource flows between generations can explain the emergence of distinctly human life history characteristics: extended childhood and development, high investment in somatic capital (particularly brain tissue) during early life, long lifespans, and the evolution of menopause. This work integrates the literature on life history theory with transfers with classic life history to understand role of transfers n shaping life history traits.
The poster session showcased excellent research from doctoral students and postdocs, highlighting the vitality of this field and the emerging generation of scholars working at the intersection of evolutionary biology, anthropology, demography, and economics.
Looking forward
The workshop reinforced the value of interdisciplinary dialogue for advancing our understanding of human life history evolution. The discussions generated new ideas and potential collaborations. I’m grateful to IAST for hosting and funding this event, and to all participants for their contributions that made these two days of scientific exchange so valuable.