Lawrence is a quantitative ecologist with a focus on the causes and consequences of variability in populations. He applies timescale-specific methods to uncover the statistical (and causal) relationships between different biological variables, as measured over time. Study organisms have included humans, deer, cicadas, aphids and plankton. He gained his PhD from Lancaster University and did a postdoc at Imperial College London. He has recently completed a period as a research associate at Kansas University.