Summary
Professor Vincent Savolainen is the Director of the Georgina Mace Centre for the Living Planet, 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 the Darwinian paradox of sexual orientation.
Current group members:
Matthew Coathup
Ewan Flintham
Phil Marler
Faye Hobbs
Dr Scott Jones
Dr Jahcub Trew
Ben Roberts
1 postdoc position available in biodiversity genomics
Selected news:
Same sex parenting in the animal kingdom
Bugs, Birds, and Beasts Day 2021
Georgina Mace Centre for the Living Planet launches at Silwood Park
Researchers have devised a new sampling method for the elusive hazel dormouse
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?
Scientists explore the evolution of animal homosexuality
Publications
Journals
Jones S, Bell T, Coleman CM, et al., 2022, Testing bats in rehabilitation for SARS-CoV-2 before release into the wild, Conservation Science and Practice, ISSN:2578-4854
Dunn N, Savolainen V, Weber S, et al., 2022, Elasmobranch diversity across a remote coral reef atoll revealed through environmental DNA metabarcoding, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, ISSN:0024-4082
Shah T, Mashimba FH, Suleiman HO, et al., 2022, Phylogenetics of Ochna (Ochnaceae) and a new infrageneric classification, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, Vol:198, ISSN:0024-4074, Pages:361-381
Anankware PJ, Roberts B, Cheseto X, et al., 2021, The nutritional profiles of five important edible insect species from West Africa – an analytical and literature synthesis, Frontiers in Nutrition, Vol:8, ISSN:2296-861X, Pages:1-19
Versluys T, Mas-Sandoval A, Flintham E, et al., 2021, Why do we pick similar mates, or do we?, Biology Letters, Vol:17, ISSN:1744-9561, Pages:1-12