Summary
Professor Vincent Savolainen is the Director of the Grand Challenges in Ecosystems and the Environment, a College initiative that brings together a multi-disciplinary group of researchers to tackle some of the greatest environmental challenges. Professor Savolainen was Deputy Head of the Department of Life Sciences (Silwood Park Campus) between 2013 and 2016. Before joining Imperial College in 2007, he spent nine years as Deputy Head of Molecular Systematics at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Professor Savolainen is a Fellow of the Zoological Society of London, Fellow of the Linnean Society of London, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology. In 2006, he was awarded the Linnean Society’s Bicentenary Medal. In 2008, he was awarded a European Research Council Advanced Grant, and the following year a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award. In 2014, he was elected a Member of EMBO, and was awarded the Coincy Medal for Botany. In 2015, he was listed in Reuters World's Most Influential Scientific Minds for publishing some of the greatest numbers of highly cited papers in plant and animal science during 2003-2013. Professor Savolainen sits on various panels and advisory committees, including the UK Natural Environment Research Council Peer Review College and the Royal Society International Committees.
His group combines field ecology, molecular phylogenetics, and population genomic approaches to key societal challenges, from explaining the origin of biodiversity to finding solutions for its preservation in a rapidly changing world. Recent research also tackles COVID19 and its link with the environment.
Current group members:
Matthew Coathup
Ewan Flintham
Phil Marler
Faye Hobbs
Dr Scott Jones
Ben Roberts (starting September 2021)
1 postdoc position available in plant genomics
Selected news:
Chinese water deer introduced to UK may be valuable to restoring numbers in Asia
Mapping coronavirus in sewage could reveal disease hotspots
Could Africa have a sustainable palm industry?
Publications
Journals
Fediajevaite J, Priestley V, Arnold R, et al., 2021, Meta-analysis shows that environmental DNA outperforms traditional surveys, but warrants better reporting standards, Ecology and Evolution, ISSN:2045-7758
Fediajevaite J, Priestley V, Arnold R, et al., 2021, Meta-analysis shows that environmental DNA outperforms traditional surveys, but warrants better reporting standards, Ecology and Evolution, ISSN:2045-7758
Savolainen V, Priestley V, 2021, Quick detection of a rare species: forensic swabs of survey tubes for hazel dormouse Muscardinus avellanarius urine, Methods in Ecology and Evolution, ISSN:2041-210X
Flintham E, Savolainen V, Mullon C, 2021, Dispersal alters the nature and scope of sexually antagonistic variation, The American Naturalist, ISSN:0003-0147
Steyaert M, Priestley V, Osborne O, et al., 2020, Advances in metabarcoding techniques bring us closer to reliable monitoring of the marine benthos, Journal of Applied Ecology, Vol:57, ISSN:0021-8901, Pages:2234-2245