We seek to understand the mechanisms underlying insect phenotypes at all levels, from behaviour to physiology, from development to gene expression. We ask how insect behavioural, social and ecological systems currently function, and how they came to be, with questions like:

How is caste determined at different levels of sociality?

How is queen identity determined, or worker celibacy enforced, in plastic societies?

How do species transition from societies to social parasites?

Do transitions in sociality have predictable progressions or genetic underpinnings?

What are the behavioural and genetic differences between specialist and generalist parasitoidism?