Roles and subjects

Professorial Fellow in Zoology and Environmental Sustainability Fellow

Contact

tim.coulson@jesus.ox.ac.uk

Academic Background

BSc (Ebor), PhD (Imperial College), DIC (Diploma of Imperial College)

Professor Tim Coulson obtained his undergraduate degree in Biology from the University of York, and a PhD from Imperial College, London. He has been head of the Zoology and Biology at Oxford, stepping down from these departmental roles to focus on research and writing in October 2024.

Undergraduate Teaching

Ecology and Evolution.

Postgraduate Teaching

Ecology and Evolution.

Research Interests

I am interested in understanding how the addition or loss of predators has ecological and evolutionary impacts on populations, communities, and ecosystems.  Predators tend to structure ecological communities, and their loss can have very significant consequences.

I do this by coupling ecological and evolutionary theory with management and conservation practice.

The three areas I am currently investigating are:

• The ecological consequences of wolf reintroduction on the Yellowstone National Park ecosystem
• The ecological and micro-evolutionary consequences of escaping predation for populations of guppies in the freshwater streams of Trinidad
• The macro-evolutionary consequences of bird colonization on oceanic islands.

Personal Interests

I love popularising science. I do this through writing, podcasting, and public speaking.

I am the science and environment correspondent for The European.

I co-host the Science of the Times podcast with Syma Khalid (St Annes), a biochemist.

My first popular science book “A little history of everything from the Big Bang to you” was published by Penguin in 2024.

Links

See Professor Coulson’s personal academic website, and his departmental webpage on the Department of Biology website.