Mini profile: Vincent Savolainen

Professor Savolainen discusses his research and his involvement in the GCEE initiative

What’s your specialist research interest and what first attracted you to it?

I specialise in biodiversity genomics. 

What does your research involve?

I combine field ecology, molecular phylogenetics, population genetics, and genomic approaches to help explain the origin of biodiversity and, where possible, find solutions for its preservation in a rapidly changing world.

What are you working on at the moment?

The origin of plant species on a remote oceanic island, comparative fish genomics and new crops for Africa.

What attracted you to the Grand Challenges in Ecosystems and the Environment Initiative? 

I developed it with some of my colleagues because the very big questions in science, most often, can only be answered by a large team of excellent researchers rather than by individual scientists.

What Grand Challenge will you be tackling under the initiative?

To start with, I will focus on food security with the view to expand on this as the initiative develops.

How do you think that the Grand Challenges in Ecosystems and the Environment Initiative can make a difference to the environmental challenges that we are facing?

This initiative comprises some of the highest concentrations of the world’s top scientists in the environment sciences, so I expect outstanding science and research impact. 

What are the key areas where you feel that the Grand Challenges in Ecosystems and the Environment Initiative can have an impact?

Those defined from the start, food security, complex ecosystems, global change, animal and human health

How is the Grand Challenges in Ecosystems and the Environment Initiative different to other environmental initiatives globally?

Grand Challenges in Ecosystems and the Environment is a unique collaboration of Imperial’s strengths in research into the environment with partners around the globe – linking tightly pure sciences and practical solutions for our planet.