Professor Maria Dornelas, University of St Andrews, UK

Maria is a professor in the School of Biodiversity at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. Her research focuses on quantifying biodiversity and understanding the processes that shape it. She often works on tropical systems, specifically coral reefs, as well as freshwater fish, mangrove crabs and plants. Her research looks at the growth and decline of communities over tens of years, including understanding the growth and decline of coral reefs and how ecosystems are changing. Maria has engaged in a number of public outreach events such as talking to the BES on ‘Is biodiversity declining?‘. She was also a member of the Young Academy of Scotland, and was positively debating the future of higher education and its resilience in 2020 during the pandemic. Maria contributed to the World Economic Forum discussion on ‘How forest loss has changed biodiversity across the globe over the last 150 years’. Her collaborative work, published in Nature in 2020, has contributed to the debate on vertebrate species decline, showing that average declines in populations do not reflect some rapidly declining species at risk.  

Professor Kate Jones

Kate is a professor of Ecology and Biodiversity at University College London where her research investigates the interface of ecological and human health. She uses statistical and mathematical modelling to understand the impact of global land use and climate change on ecological and human systems, with a particular focus on emerging infectious diseases from animals. Kate’s research also develops applied artificial intelligence tools for monitoring ecological health, particularly for monitoring ecosystems acoustically. Kate has led the development of novel global citizen science programmes with The Bat Conservation Trust, encouraging thousands of volunteers all over the world to monitor bat populations and collaborating extensively with national conservation NGOs and governments. Kate is a passionate science communicator and runs a course on Science Communication for Biologists. Kate has written over 100 articles and book chapters in prestigious journals, is a UK government scientific advisor, chaired The Bat Conservation Trust for 5 years, is an expert advisor to the UK Climate Change Committee and won the Leverhulme Prize for outstanding contributions to Zoology.  

Professor Julia Koricheva

Julia is an ecologist in the UK and a Professor of Ecology at Royal Holloway, University of London. She researches ecosystems services in forests such as the Satakunta forest in Finland, and the interactions between insects and plants and is an expert in meta-analysis which she has used to show the harmful effects of insecticides on bees.

Julia has a BSc in Zoology and Entomology at Saint Petersburg State University and a PhD at the University of Turku in Finland, where she looked at the effects of air pollution on the interactions between birch trees and insect herbivores. She moved to Switzerland to work as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Zurich before returning to Finland and then moved to the Swedish Agricultural University.

Professor Dr Teja Tscharntke

Teja is a head of the Agroecology Group at the University of Göttingen, Germany. Their research focuses on biodiversity and the composition of communities of plants and animals. In 1973, Teja studied sociology biology for 8 years, following this he completed a Masters in Sociology and Biology, and a PhD in Biology. Teja has been a member of many societies and committees since 1996. In 2008 and 2017, he won the Internationally Most Cited Ecologist from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, from 2015-2019 he was awarded with the Highly Cited Researcher Award, in 2018 he was awarded with the Chinese Academy of Sciences Presidents International Fellowship for Distinguished Scientists and in 2020 he won the Award for Insect Conservation 2020 which is run by the Royal Entomological Society. 

Professor Andy Purvis

Andy has made considerable contributions to ecology, evolutionary biology and conservation over recent decades. He has been at the forefront of several initiatives to enhance large scale analysis of macroecological and macroevolutionary patterns and processes. His work has had significant impacts on the work of other researchers, and on policy and practice, because of his general approach to open data and model sharing. His academic research is of the highest quality and he is well known, and well cited, for incisive and significant large-scale analyses.

Andy’s early work involved developing software for the analysis of cross-species traits and habitats, an approach fraught with analytical difficulties because of species having shared evolutionary histories that make the data non-independent. Andy created easy to use software (CAIC), which he made freely available and which transformed the work of many ecologists and evolutionary biologists. He also pioneered the construction of phylogenetic super trees, making his analysis achievable even in the absence of comprehensive data. He subsequently held large analytical projects using super trees for all mammals, composite life history and conservation data, and new GIS and mapping skills to draw conclusions about large scale patterns in the threat status of mammals.

In recent years, Andy has led the PREDICTS project, a large collaboration to compile new datasets to understand how land conversion leads to local biodiversity loss and change at global scale. The project now has 2.5 million biodiversity records from over 21,000 sites, covering more than 38,000 species and the most recent papers have clearly demonstrated the ‘hockey stick’ decline curve for species richness since the start of large-scale agriculture.

Andy has an outstanding current research record, which is having a significant impact on the development of the science of ecology and its application.

Professor Katherine Willis

Kathy’s outstanding long-term ecological research has led to a new understanding of biodiversity baselines, thresholds of change, and the resilience of biological communities (to pests, pathogens and climate change) in some of the most biodiverse yet threatened regions of the world. This work is as a result of building a unique set of long-term datasets (fossil and historical), models and innovative technologies to determine the diversity, distribution and abundance of plants and animals across global landscapes over time intervals spanning 10s-1000s years. More recently she has also played a leading role in developing new innovative methodologies to remotely determine the distribution of natural capital assets across global landscapes that are important for human well-being. This research is in collaboration with a large network of international partners spanning 20 countries and 4 continents. She has also developed a large collaborative research network across Oxford University (departments of Engineering, Computing Sciences, Geography, Plant Sciences and Zoology). Here the research focus has been on the development of end-user tools to ensure that research outputs have maximum societal impact. Recent examples include two web- based tools that remotely determine areas for ecological risk and natural capital assets (see LEFT and https://naturetrade.net.)

In addition to her research, between 2013-2018 Kathy held the position of Director of Science at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. During her tenure, she developed and launched new Science strategy (2015-2020) for Kew and as part of led the creation of a number of strategic outputs to disseminate Kew’s collections to a much wider global audience. These included the ‘Plants of the World’ online portal and three large-scale international reports on the State of the World’s Plants (2016, 2017) and State of the World’s Fungi (2018). In addition, she led the development of a Kew Collections strategy (2018-2028) to provide direction for Kew’s scientific collections over the next decade. Over the past 3 years, Kathy has also been a member of the UK Government’s Natural Capital Committee advising on the Government’s 25 Year environment plan and the UKs natural capital assets. Kathy has also been a lead author on the recently released 2019 Global Assessment for IPBES.

In 2018 Kathy was awarded as CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for services to biodiversity conservation.

Dr Sandra Lavorel

Sandra has conducted outstanding research into plant functional ecology and the application of trait-based approaches to the assessment of management of ecosystem services. Her research has contributed to the emergence of trait-based approaches and their application to understanding biodiversity effects on ecosystem functioning and services, especially in the context of climate change and land management. She has also completed interdisciplinary research, which involves close collaboration with a range of stakeholders and has contributed to both national and international assessments of biodiversity and ecosystem services, and to a greater understanding of land management for ecosystem services.

Sandra is research director at Laboratoire d’écologie alpine (LECA), Centre National de Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Grenoble, France. She obtained her PhD in 1991 and has been a researcher at CNRS since 1994. Sandra has an outstanding track record of research and her 282 publications are distinguished for their deep conceptual basis and rigorous and imaginative experimental design.

In addition to her own research, Sandra has played a lead role in several international research networks, such as the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, DIVERSITAS, and TRY, the Global Communal Plant Trait Database, which she was a founder member of. She has also served on several major national and international assessments related to biodiversity and global environmental change, including the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, and she is Chair of the scientific committee of the French National Ecosystem Assessment. She is a highly supportive mentor to her staff and students, and her rigorous and imaginative approach to her work, and appetite to challenge conventional disciplinary boundaries, is an inspiration to others working in her field.

Professor Lynne Boddy

Lynne Boddy is Professor of Mycology at Cardiff University, where she lectures and researches on the topic of fungal ecology. Her real passion is the ecology of wood decay fungi and she has written prolifically on the subject. She has published 250 scientific papers, co-authored two books and edited 5 others. She is also the Chief Editor of the journal Fungal Ecology.

Lynne served as President of the British Mycological Society (BMS) from 2009-2010, and has been a member of the British Ecological Society for nearly 40 years. She takes every opportunity to spread the importance of the work of both societies to the general public, including taking part in 2016 Soap Box Science – a novel public outreach platform for promoting women scientists and the work they do. She produced a gold medal winning display on the role of fungi at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2009 along with her colleagues at the BMS and had a major role in formulating the ‘From Another Kingdom’ exhibition at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in 2010, as well as co-editing the companion book for the exhibition, “From Another Kingdom: the Amazing World of Fungi”.

Professor Jane Memmott

Jane Memmott works in a variety of research fields, including the impact of farming on biodiversity, urban ecology and restoration ecology. Her field sites range from English meadows to Hawaiian swamps, and from Scottish islands to Cornish heaths.

Jane is Professor of Ecology at the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Bristol. She started her research career as a tropical entomologist commuting between the UK and the rainforests of Costa Rica before deciding to spend the winters working with the weed biological control team in New Zealand. She currently runs a research group at Bristol that uses ecological networks as a tool for asking about the impact of environmental change.

Jane works closely with practitioners as a part of her approach and recent projects have involved working with city councils and the Wildlife Trusts. Most recently she led a consortium of 28 people studying urban pollinators, leading to the team who constructing 36 plant-pollinator networks each 1km² and planted 60 large urban meadows in four cities!

Professor Rosie Woodroffe

Rosie Woodroffe’s research falls at the interface of conservation biology, disease ecology, and animal behaviour. Her work is highly inter-disciplinary and she collaborates with a wide range of professionals, from pathologists to economists. Rosie’s current research is concerned primarily with conservation biology and wildlife management and she has a strong commitment to using science to influence both policy and conservation action.

Throughout her career, Rosie has been involved with a wide range of areas and topics including the conservation of wildlife that conflicts with people, how infectious diseases impact ecology and conservation and species conservation planning.

Rosie completed an undergraduate degree and D.Phil. at the University of Oxford. After a Research Fellowship at the University of Cambridge she gained a Lectureship at the University of Warwick in Ecology and Epidemiology. She then moved to the University of California, as Professor of Conservation Biology before returning to the UK where she is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Zoology and a Visiting Professor at Imperial College, London.

Professor Kevin Gaston

Kevin Gaston is one of the most prolific and highly cited ecologists world-wide. He is particularly well-known for his pioneering work on macroecology, spatial patterns in abundance, the underlying causes of rarity, and more recently for his work on urban ecosystems and research into improving the relationships between people and their environment.

Kevin is Professor of Biodiversity and Conservation at the University of Exeter and has contributed to over 600 publications throughout his career. He is also the Director of a new multi-disciplinary centre at the University of Exeter, the Environment and Sustainability Institute.

Tim Coulson

Tim Coulson won this Award for his recent work linking environmental change to population dynamics of species. He has also carried out work in the field of conservation and management. Tim’s research in this area has focused on how a solid ecological understanding can be used to underpin the conservation and management decision-making process.

Tim’s research focuses on population ecology and population genetics and he has also developed a microsatellite-based measure to examine the effects of inbreeding on life history traits in wild populations. He has also worked on genetic by environment effects on demography. Tim also carries out research on evolutionary ecology, where he explores changes in the birth sex ratio in Soay sheep. His current focus is on linking individual-level demography to population level dynamics to estimate opportunities for selection.

Professor EJ Milner-Gulland

EJ is a population and conservation biologist who has been a pioneer in modern scientific conservation. She has worked at the Universities of Oxford and Warwick has led Imperial College’s Conservation Science group. Her work ranges from mathematical studies of the population dynamics of endangered species, through the management of natural resources, to social science research on local attitudes to different environmental protection strategies.

EJ’s research group is a shining example of interdisciplinary approached to applied ecology and the group has produced many important studies including: work on bushmeat which has stressed the significance of this source of protein in low-income countries and how issues of food security and conservation need to be addressed together, and also long-term work on the very rare Saiga Antelope in Kazakhstan. Her group has investigated the fascinating population dynamics of the species, and the social, economic and even political factors that influence hunting pressure.

Professor Jeremy Thomas

Jeremy Thomas’ work focuses on the conservation of British butterflies. He lead the reintroduction of the Large Blue and has made important advances in the study of mutualistic and parasitic interactions, including the dissection of the relationships between lycaenid butterflies and their ant mutualists and parasitic wasp enemies.

Professor Mike Begon

Mike Begon is Professor of Ecology and Deputy Head of the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Liverpool. He has co-authored three ground breaking and fundamentally important text books, Ecology, Essentials of Ecology and Population Ecology. These books are written with authority and are a must, being found on all ecologist’s book shelves.

Mike has made a world leading contribution to ecology through advancing the knowledge of population dynamics, density dependence and host-pathogen dynamics.

Professor Dr Christian Korner

Christian Korner is one of Europe’s most eminent ecologists. He is the Head of Plant Ecology at the University of Basel in Switzerland, where he leads a large group studying the interactions between plants and their environment. His most influential work has addressed adaptations of plants to arctic/alpine environments, including factors that control the position of treelines, and the impacts of elevate carbon dioxide on both individuals and their interactions within communities. Christian’s research has resulted in the publication of more than 250 articles, 15 of which have been cited more than 100 times, earning him a place in the ISI Highly Cited Researchers list.

Professor Phil Ineson

Phil Ineson is a Chair in Global Change Ecology at the University of York. He is particularly noted for his work with stable isotopes, and was the first to grow C3 plants on C4 soil. Phil carries out research into the relationships between climate and soil carbon stores, the role of soils in producing ‘greenhouse gases’ and the potential impacts of future atmospheric CO2 levels on soil processes. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the most original scientists in the world working on the role of soil in the global carbon cycle.

Professor Ilkka Hanski

Ilkka Hanski is Research Professor at the University of Helsinki and is widely acknowledged as the leading proponent of metapopulation ecology and more broadly as a leading figure in population ecology and conservation biology.

Ilkka’s work on the Glanville Fritillary and associated competitors and natural enemies is an exemplary approach to interdisciplinary studies combining all aspects of the ecological sciences. He has integrated molecular, theoretical, genetical and population-level studies into his research to address a broad range of relevant ecological issues.

Professor Stephen Hubbell

Stephen Hubbell is a distinguished Research Professor of Plant Biology. He has created a mathematical theory to explain general patterns in the distribution of biological diversity on earth from local to global scales and unifying the previously unconnected theory in population biology and island biogeography with speciation theory.

Stephen is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is also a Pew Fellow in Conservation Biology.

Professor Andrew Watkinson

Andrew Watkinson has pioneered major developments in a range of fields especially population ecology and in understanding the ecology of weeds.

Andrew’s research of weeds arose from applying his PhD research to other plants. He took advantage of the concern over weeds and the enormous literature to develop a theoretical framework for examining a wide range of issues relating to weed population ecology.

Professor Jim Brown

Jim Brown is amongst the top three ecologists in the USA. Not only has he been fantastically productive and innovative as a researcher, he has also contributed enormously to the development and administration of ecology internationally. His work has bridged the gap across disciplines and across scales of space and time.

Jim Brown has pioneered the whole area of Macroecology as evidenced by his many papers in the best international journals and his seminal book Macroecology published in 1995. He has published some of the most cited papers in the field of biogeography and his textbooks on the subject from 1983 and 1998 with Lomolino are the most widely cited and used books on the subject available.

Professor Sam Berry

Sam Berry is the former President of the British Ecological Society and Linnean Societies. He is well known for his work in ecological genetics with special interests in island populations of small mammals.

Sam is a prolific writer of both technical and popular works and has, over the years, made highly significant contributions to the debates about the interfaces between science and politics and about the structure of the institutions of biological science in the UK. He has also been very active in forums such as the Field Studies Council and the Institute of Biology. He is an eminent and articulate spokesperson for the science of Ecology and is listened to by many groups outside the world of Ecology.

Professor William Sutherland

Bill Sutherland is the Miriam Rothschild Professor of Conservation Biology at the University of Cambridge. Over a career spanning over 30 years, he has researched in several disciplines.His research interests largely involve predicting the consequences of environmental change and he is well known for his research on integrating science and policy, particularly in the field of evidence-based conservation.

Bill has made many key contributions to the sector, including the horizon scanning exercises to identify future priority issues and the 100 important questions in various disciplines (ecology, poverty prevention, global agriculture and food amongst others). He has also worked extensively on bird population ecology and the biodiversity impacts of agriculture.

Professor John Harper

John Harper has pioneered a whole new field of scientific endeavour, exploring the population biology of plants. Prior to his ground-breaking studies, plant ecologists had studied the physiology of plants growing under different ecological conditions, or had studied distribution and physiognomy of entire plant communities. The fate of individual plants was largely ignored. His distinctive approach to the analysis of plant behaviour and demography gave enormous stimulus to the development of comparative studies of life history traits, plant evolution and population dynamics. His presidential address to this Society in 1967 entitled “A Darwinian approach to plant ecology” was hugely influential, and inspired an entire generation of whole-organisms plant biologists.

Professor Tim Clutton-Brock

Tim Clutton-Brock is the Professor of Animal Ecology at the Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge. His research group in the Department has run since 1980 and usually includes around 7 graduate students working on their doctoral projects, 3 or 4 graduate research assistants and 5 or 6 post-doctoral scientists.

In 1993, he was a founding member of the Tropical Biology Association which is a federation of European universities and NGO’s that runs 2-4 month long field courses in ecology and conservation biology in the paleo-tropics each year for a combination of students. In addition, Tim chairs the Royal Society’s South-East Asian Rainforest Programme, which focusses on the assessment of the impact of human exploitation on biodiversity, forest reconstruction following logging and on the minimisation of logging damage.

Professor Philip Grime

Philip Grime has made an immense contribution to the science of plant ecology for over four decades. In the 1960s, he was involved in important pioneering research, culminating in his “Atlas of Grassland Plants” which he produced in conjunction with Philip Lloyd. He has developed the science of comparative ecology into a powerful approach to understand ecological situations. In the 1970s he developed two major lines of research, “Plant Strategy Theory” and the “Humpbacked model” to explain the control of diversity in grasslands.

In the 1980’s and 1990’s Philip Grime became the leader of UCPE and led this group with great distinction to help it become one of the finest laboratories in plant ecology in the world. Philip has produced a large number of important publications covering the complete spectrum, from both theoretical approaches through to practical conservation and land management ones. He has recently been elected an honorary member of the Ecological Society of America, an honour reserved for very few British ecologists.

Professor John Lawton

John Lawton is Professor of Community Ecology and Director of the NERC Centre of Population Biology at Imperial College, Silwood Park campus. He has made significant contributions to a wide range of ecological problems, both theoretically and in the field. His interests embrace theoretical and experimental population dynamics and community ecology, primarily using insects as experimental subjects, in both terrestrial and freshwater systems. Insects feature prominently in John Lawton’s work, however he has also published on mammals and on birds.