Azim Shariff completed his undergraduate degree in psychology and philosophy at the University of Toronto under the supervision of Jordan Peterson. He then returned to his hometown of Vancouver to do his graduate research at the University of British Columbia, training in the intersection of evolutionary and cultural psychology with Mark Schaller, Joe Henrich, Jessica Tracy and his primary advisor, Ara Norenzayan.

At UBC, he started his research in religion and the evolution of prosocial behavior. The research for his master’s thesis, on the effects of implicit religious priming on generosity toward anonymous strangers, was named one the 70 “Ideas of the Year” by The New York Times Magazine (along with suing God and biodegradable coffins).

After completing his doctoral work, Azim brain-drained down to the United States to start as an assistant professor in the department of psychology at the University of Oregon. Starting the Culture and Morality Lab (CaML), he continued the research on religion and prosocial behavior, and expanded his research interests to the causes and consequences of free will beliefs, network science, the psychology of environmentalism, and the psychological impact of economic trends. Many of these research programs are now led by a team of bright current and former CaML graduate students, and involve a large network of research collaborators spread over three continents.

In 2012, he won the Margeret Gorman Early Career Award from Division 36 (Religion and Spirituality) of the American Psychological Association. He now serves as the Science and Research Representative for the Division’s Early Career Professional Task Force.