He is developing a multi-disciplinary research program covering the topics of cognitive psychology, evolutionary biology, cross-cultural and developmental psychology, the psychology of religion, statistics, anthropology, and behavioural economics. Yvan studied psychology at the University of Manitoba (B.A.-Adv.) and then studied evolutionary psychology and biology at the universities of Reading (M.A.) and Liverpool (Ph.D.). For his Ph.D., he studied cognition in chimpanzees and other great apes. Subsequently, he held postdoctoral research fellowships at Brunel University, Oxford University, and the University of Göttingen. He has also taught at undergraduate and postgraduate level at The Open University, Brunel University, and Middlesex University. In 2013, he joined the Department of Psychology at Middlesex University London.