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Vandana was born in Chennai, India and completed her PhD in Dr. Chaitanya S. Gokhale’s Research Group for Theoretical Models in Eco-Evolutionary dynamics at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology.

Background

She holds a BSc in Physics from Delhi University and an MSc in Nuclear Fusion and Engineering Physics from Ghent University, Belgium through an Erasmus Mundus programme. Her interdisciplinary background in computational physics and theoretical biology led her to pursue research in evolutionary dynamics.

Research Focus

Vandana’s research concentrated on understanding interactions between biological entities using evolutionary game theory. Her work examined how individuals engage in multiple interactions (or games) simultaneously and how this impacts fitness and evolutionary dynamics. She was particularly interested in life-history evolution, studying the relationship between parental investment and immune response in various species. She also investigated clutch-splitting strategies in fish.

Research Interests

  • Interactions and evolutionary processes
  • Evolutionary game theory
  • Multiple games and multiple interactions
  • Life-history evolution
  • Sexual dimorphism in immunity
  • Parental investment evolution

Notable Achievements

  • Participant at the Santa Fe Institute’s Complex Systems Summer School (June-July 2018)
  • Travel grant recipient from IAST, Toulouse (2017)
  • International Max Planck Research School conference funding recipient
  • Organized the “Talking Evolution” workshop (September 2018)
  • Organized and presented at the Aquavit Symposium 2017

Publications

Vandana Revathi Venkateswaran and Chaitanya S. Gokhale (2019). Evolutionary dynamics of multiple games. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 286, 20190900.

S. Holmes, V. R. Venkateswaran et al (2019). A quantitative approach to contact improvisation dance.

Vandana Revathi Venkateswaran, Olivia Roth and Chaitanya S. Gokhale. Consequences of sex-specific differences in traits. Evolution.

Vandana Revathi Venkateswaran, Marc Mangel, Chaitanya S. Gokhale and Sigrunn Eliassen. Sexual dimorphism in immunity in relation to parental investment.