The interests of the Evolution and Biodiversity group cover a broad span of issues: from the dynamics of translation through to evolutionary process on the paleontological scale, from understanding bacterial epidemics over real time to understanding broad scale ecological and conservation related processes.

Where in a genome does selection act and why? How much should each parent contribute to raising offspring? Does the fossil record document driven trends for increasing complexity? Do vaccination programs select for pathogens that escape the vaccine response? These are just some of the questions addressed by members of the evolution and biodiversity group.

Methodologically, the group increasingly exploits Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) data, be it to analyse epidemic structures of bacterial populations, understand the evolution of splicing or determine the genetic correlates to complex traits. The group has particular expertise in analysis of large data sets.

Research areas

• Evolutionary and epidemiological genomics
• Paleontological approaches to fundamental evolutionary questions
• Genetic approaches to the evolution of complex traits
• Evolutionary and ecological genomics of plants and fungi
• Comparative and experimental analysis of sexual conflict
• Conservation biology with emphasis on the reintroduction of the Great Bustard

PhDs

There are opportunities for postgraduate research throughout our group. Interested students are encouraged to contact academic staff directly or check our PhD projects on FindAPhD.com.

Find out more about studying for a postgraduate degree at Bath.

People

• Professor Ed Feil
• Dr Dan Henk, Theme Lead
• Professor Laurence D. Hurst
• Dr Paula Kover
• Dr Nick Longrich
• Dr Hans-Wilhelm Nützmann
• Professor Andy Preston
• Dr Nick Priest
• Professor Sam Sheppard
• Professor Tamas Szekely, Deputy Theme Lead
• Dr Tiffany Taylor
• Dr Leslie Turner
• Dr Araxi O. Urrutia
• Professor Matthew Wills
• Professor Jason Wolf

Read about our other research themes

• Cell and Developmental Biology
• Infection and Immunity
• Medical and Industrial Biotechnology

Find out more about research in the Department of Biology & Biochemistry.