Katherine Willis#
| Membership Number: | 7552 |
| Membership type: | ORDINARY |
| Section: | ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION |
| Elected: | 2026 |
| Main Country of Residence: | UNITED KINGDOM |
| Homepage(s): | https://www.biology.ox.ac.uk/people/katherine-willis |
| Publication Link: | https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ribo7BMAAAAJ&hl=en |
Present and Previous Positions
- 2023 - present Crossbench Life Peer, House of Lords
- 2018 - present Principal, St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford
- 2013 - present Professor of Biodiversity, Department of Biology, University of Oxford
- 2013 - 2018 Director of Science, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
- 2010 - 2013 Tasso Leventis Chair (Professor) in Biodiversity, Dept. of Zoology, University of Oxford, Director, Biodiversity Institute, Oxford Martin School
- 2007 – 2015 Adjunct Professor, Department of Biology, University of Bergen, Norway
- 2006 – 2010 Professor of Long-term Ecology, School of Geography & Environment, University of Oxford
- 2004 – 2006 University Reader, School of Geography & Environment, University of Oxford
- 1998 – 2004 University Lecturer in School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford
- 1994 - 1998 Royal Society University Research Fellow, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge
Fields of Scholarship
- Redefining ecological baselines and natural variability
- Ecosystem sensitivity, resilience, and disturbance
- Near real-time environmental and disease surveillance
- Determining plant-based carbon stocks and storage
- Airborne plant–fungal signals and ecosystem health
- Long-term (decadal to millennial) plant and ecosystem dynamics
- Environmental change and ecosystem responses
- Conservation science for policy and land management
- Analytical innovation in ecological monitoring
- Volatile organic compounds as ecological indicators
Honours and Awards
- 2024 Honorary Doctor of Science (DSc), University of East Anglia
- 2023 Fellow of the Linnean Society of London
- 2023 Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology
- 2023 Honorary Fellow, Merton College, Oxford
- 2023 Life Peerage, House of Lords
- 2018 Commander of the British Empire (CBE) for services to Biodiversity and Conservation, Queen’s Birthday Honors
- 2018 British Ecological Society, Marsh Award for outstanding contributions to the field of Ecology
- 2017 Honorary Doctorate, University of Bergen
- 2017 Honorary Fellow, Selwyn College, Cambridge
- 2015 Michael Faraday Medal for public communication of science, Royal Society, London
- 2015 Honorary Fellow, St Hugh’s College, Oxford
- 2010 Fellow of Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters, Foreign Member,
- 2008 Lyell Fund Award, Geological Society of London
- 2008 Fellow of Geological Society, London
