Our Team

Erik Gjesfjeld is a Program Officer in Religion, Science, & Society at the John Templeton Foundation, where he aims to support projects and partnerships that catalyze the discovery of evidence-based insights in the social, cultural, ecological, and spiritual dimensions of humanity. He has a particular interest in collaborative, interdisciplinary, and cross-cultural projects that improve our understanding of the human experience, facilitate collective well-being, and empower lives of meaning and purpose. In addition, Erik is interested in projects that examine the evolution of culture, advance quantitative and computational methods, and promote open science best practices. He also helps manages the full life cycle of the grantmaking process including strategic planning, proposal evaluation, project recommendation, grant monitoring, and portfolio management.

Prior to joining JTF, Erik served as a Renfrew Fellow in the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research and a Research Fellow at Fitzwilliam College at the University of Cambridge. He was also a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Institute for Society and Genetics and a Lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles. He obtained his PhD at the University of Washington in Anthropology, his MA degrees in Archaeology at University College London, and his BA in Archaeological Studies at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.