GEE welcome new members of academic staff

Jon Bridle has joined CBER as Professor in Evolutionary Biology. Jon’s research investigates what causes maximum rates of evolution in time and space. These limits to adaptation determine how biodiversity evolves, why species differ in their distributions, and when and where population persistence is most threatened by ongoing environmental change.

Lucy van Dorp joined UGI in 2013, completing her PhD and a postdoc within the Department. Lucy was appointed following the recent search for a lecturer in microbial genomics and we are delighted that she will continue her academic and research career within GEE. Lucy’s research aims to contribute to the post-genomic revolution in biology and medicine through the use of computational methods applied to big genomic data from human-associated pathogens, including the agents of Covid-19, malaria, gonorrhoea, tuberculosis and nosocomial infections.  By studying the fine-scale patterns of genetic diversity in these pathogens she will seek to identify the genetic and ecological drivers relevant to disease emergence, transmission and spread.

Cat Horswill is a joint appointment with the Zoological Society of London. Her ZSL-UCL Springboard Fellowship is a 4-year joint appointment. We look forward to welcoming Cat and helping her to integrate with the IoZ and GEE communities. Cat’s research focuses on understanding the processes that shape population dynamics. To achieve this, she analyses long-term datasets on threatened species of seabird. Many species of seabird are of conservation concern, and her work has contributed towards regulating offshore renewables, as well as using seabirds to assess ecosystem change in managed fishing areas.