Stian studied natural sciences at Cambridge, where he also completed a PhD in experimental psychology. He holds other degrees from Imperial College London (MSc Science Communication) and Birkbeck (BA English Literature). Prior to coming to City University London, he held postdoctoral positions at Warwick and UCL, most recently, a fellowship from the ESRC Centre for Economic Learning and Social Evolution. He is interested in high-level cognition, in particular judgement and decision making. One particular interest is in the psychology of time - how humans and other animals represent and make decisions involving time, in particular how and why people's discounting of delayed rewards varies across individuals and contexts. Other judgement and decision making interests include forecasting - how individuals and organisations can improve the predictions they make about future trends - and game theory - in particular, individual and contextual differences in strategies used for ultimatum, prisoner's dilemma and co-ordination games. He also works on applying experimental psychology to policy issues, particularly the notion of what constitutes a 'fair' taxation structure.
