Prof. Shanker and the Milton and Ethel Harris Research Initiative are involved in a number of different studies looking at the processes involved in the development of language and reflective consciousness in young infants; studies in evolutionary theory involving nonhuman primates; and clinical studies designed to significantly enhance the capacities of children with various types of impairment. The overall goal is to see how newly identified developmental processes were and are responsible for the growth of the human mind; how these same processes are compromised in developmental and mental health disorders; and how, when restored through intervention programmes that mobilize these processes, individuals are returned to a healthy developmental trajectory.

Prof. Shanker was educated at Oxford, where he obtained a B.A. in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, and a B Phil and D Phil in philosophy. He has received numerous academic distinctions, and his research is currently being funded by Cure Autism Now, The Harris Steel Foundation, The Templeton Foundation, and The Unicorn Foundation. Among his recent publications are Apes, language and the human mind (with Sue Savage-Rumbaugh and Talbot Taylor, 1998); Wittgenstein.s remarks on the foundations of AI (1998); and most recently, The First Idea (with Stanley Greenspan, 2004). In addition to serving as Co-Director of the Council of Human Development, he is also the Chair for Canada of the Interdisciplinary Council of Learning and Developmental Disorders.