Mark van Vugt

Mark van Vugt is Professor of Evolutionary Psychology, Work and Organizational Psychology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands and a Research Associate at the  Department of Politics and International relations, University of Oxford. He studies and teaches about political, group and organizational behaviour from an evolutionary psychology perspective. His main research themes include leadership, hierarchy, altruism, cooperation, and intergroup relations. Mark also has a keen interest in applications of evolutionary perspectives to such topics as management, governance, economics, sustainability, philanthropy, war and peace. He has published more than 150 articles in prestigious journals such as Nature, Current Biology, Proceedings of the Royal Society-B, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (JPSP), Psychological Science, and the American Psychologist, Academy of Management Review.  He is a former Associate Editor of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and currently at the Leadership Quarterly. He has authored and co-authored various books including “Naturally Selected: The Evolutionary Science of Leadership and, recently, Mismatch. Prof. van Vugt has received research grants from national and international funding agencies including the European Union, the British Academy, NWO, from government and industry. He is a newspaper columnist and a blogger for Psychology Today on topics related to all peculiar aspects of human behaviour and decision-making.

Previous Posts

Current positions

2009 - now Full Professor of Psychology, VU University Amsterdam, the Netherlands Chair in Evolutionary Psychology, Work and Organisational Psychology

2006 - now Research Associate at Institute for Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Oxford, United Kingdom

2009 - now Honorary Professor at Centre for the Study of Group Processes, University of Kent, United Kingdom

Previous positions

2004 - 2009 Full Professor of Psychology, University of Kent, United Kingdom

2000 - 2004 Senior Lecturer, University of Southampton, United Kingdom

1995 - 2000 Lecturer, University of Southampton