FRESH

Human beings, like other living beings, are products of biological evolution. Just as the theory of evolution serves as a framework for understanding biology, evolutionary approaches provide a framework for the study of human beings. Those approaches shed light on our psychology, social organization, cultural knowledge, the forms that take our cooperation and conflicts, the history of our migrations, and our health and diseases. Evolutionary approaches enable us to understand both what is universal, part of human nature, and the ecological drivers of differences between individuals and societies. Finally, by considering together the genetic, environmental and cultural determinants of human behavioural and physiological variation, evolutionary approaches are uniquely placed to shed new light on medical practices and public policies, which will help devise innovative solutions to societal challenges.

The development of evolutionary approaches requires collaborations between scientists from traditionally distant disciplines: evolutionary biologists, psychologists, anthropologists, geneticists, linguists, primatologists, economists, demographers, political scientists, historians, etc. This research program has been structured at the international level with the creation of the “Human Behavior and Evolution Society”, and at European level with the development of the “European Human Behavior and Evolution Association”.

The FRench network for the Evolutionary Study of Humans (FRESH) is a “Réseau Thématique Pluridisciplinaire” funded by the Institut écologie et environnement (INEE) of the CNRS, aims at being the French counterpart of HBES and EHBEA.