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Department of Zoology

 

Biography

David is building and supervising a research team at the University of Cambridge focussed on innovation in underexploited and high potential fish and seafood sectors to benefit human health and environmental sustainability as well as thought leadership to guide policy.

A key component of work is the development of novel ‘breakthrough’ aquaculture production systems.

David also looks at mechanisms that could be used to drive demand of sustainable nutritious fish and seafood in place of other meat and fish products.

Work on thought leading policy related projects aims to improve the global sustainability and performance of fishery and aquaculture food systems.

David leads interdisciplinary and collaborative projects spanning numerous academic disciplines and institutions, industries, and regulatory bodies.

Consultancy for leading companies in the food sector aims to drive greater sustainability. David is Founder of Naked Clam Ltd, speaks widely at international events and has an active media presence.

David is a Fellow, Director of Studies and Praelector at Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge. His background includes a Henslow Research Fellowship, PhD in Zoology and a 1st class degree in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University. He maintains a passion for fitness and the outdoors, competes in multisport and adventure races, and is a Health Coach.

Research

Aquaculture

Food Security

Planetary Health

Human Health

Publications

Key publications: 

 

Newton, R.W., Malcorps, W., Robinson, J.P.W., Kok, B., Little, D.C., Lofstedt, A., de Roos, B., Willer, D.F. (2025) Fish as Feed: Using the nutrient Fish In: Fish Out ratio (nFIFO) to enhance nutrient retention in aquaculture. Aquaculture, 602, 742332. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquaculture.2025.742332

Willer, D.F., Short, S.W., Khripko, D., Bremner, J., Aldridge, D.C., Sutherland, W.J., Petrovan, S.O. (2025) Challenges and opportunities in leveraging an existing systematic evidence database for mitigating hazards to the global food system. Royal Society Open Science 12: 241645. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.241645 

Willer, D.F., Short, S.W., Khripko, D., Petrovan, S.O., Christie, A.P., Bremner, J., Sutherland, W.J., Aldridge, D.C. (2025). Mapping hazards to the global food system. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 197, 18 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-024-13475-4 

Shipway, J.R., Tupper, M., Willer, D.F. (2024). Gross to Gourmet: A Social Media Analysis of Naked Clams as a Sustainable Delicacy. Food Frontiershttps://doi.org/10.1002/fft2.487 

Furse, S., Martel, C., Willer, D.F., Stabler, D., Fernandez-Twinn, D.S., Scott, J., Patterson-Cross, R., Watkins, A.J., Virtue, S., Prescott, T.A.K., Baker, E., Chennells, J., Vidal-Puig, A., Ozanne, S.E., Kite, G.C., Vitova, M., Chiarugi, D., Moncur, J., Koulman, A., Wright, G.A., Snowden, S.G., Stevenson. P.C. (2024). Systemic analysis of lipid metabolism from individuals to multi-organism systems. Molecular Omicshttps://doi.org/10.1039/d4mo00083h 

Willer, D.F., Newton, R., Malcorps, W., Kok, B., Little, D., Lofstedt, A., de Roos, B., Robinson, J.P.W. (2024). Wild fish consumption can balance nutrient retention in farmed fish. Nature Food. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-024-00932-z  

McCarthy, A.H., Steadman, D., Richardson, H., Murphy, J., Benbow, S., Brian, J.I., Brooks, H., Costa-Domingo, G., Hazin, C., McOwen, C., Walker, J., Willer, D.F., Abdi, M., Auster, P.J., Bealey, R., Bensted-Smith, R., Broadburn, K., Carvalho, G., Collinson, T., Erinosho, B., Fabinyi, M., Febrica, S., Forbi, W.N., Garcia, S.M., Goad, D., Goldsworthy, L., Govan, H., Heaphy, C., Hiddink, J.G., Hosch, G., Kachelriess, D., Kinch, J., Lancaster, A.M.S.N., Le Manach, F., Matthews, T., Ortiz, A.M., Morgan, A., Motta, H., Murua, H., Namboothri, N., Ndiritu, E., Passfield, K., Pilcher, N.J., Portus, J.O., Rguez-Baron, J.M., Robertson, M., Sharma, A., Suazo, C.G., Tamini, L.L., Vilata-Simon, J., Mukherjee, N. (2024). Destructive fishing: An expert-driven definition and exploration of this quasi-concept. Conservation Lettershttps://doi.org/10.1111/conl.13015 

Willer, D.F., Christie, A.P., Khripko, D., Bremner, J., Petrovan, S.O., Sutherland, W.J., Short, S.W., Aldridge, D.C. (2024). Fast tracking tool selection for sustainability decisions. Global Sustainability 1–40 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1017/sus.2024.21

Willer, D. F., Aldridge, D. C., Mehrshahi, P., Papadopoulos, K. P., Archer, L., Smith, A. G., Lancaster, M., Strachan, A., & Shipway, J. R. (2023). Naked Clams to open a new sector in sustainable nutritious food production. npj Sustainable Agriculture 1, 4. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44264-023-00004-y

Willer, D.F., Aldridge, D.C. (2023). Enhancing domestic consumption to deliver food security in a volatile world. Global Sustainability6, E18. https://doi.org/10.1017/sus.2023.17 

Gawel, J. P. F., Aldridge, D. C., & Willer, D. F. (2023). Barriers and drivers to increasing sustainable bivalve seafood consumption in a mass market economy. Food Frontiers, 00, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1002/fft2.282  

Willer, D.F., Aldridge, D.C., Gough, C., Kincaid, K. (2023) Small-scale octopus fishery operations enable environmentally and socioeconomically sustainable sourcing of nutrients under climate change. Nature Food4, 179-189 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-022-00687-5

Willer, D.F., Brian, J.I., Derrick, C.J., Walker, J., Benbow, S., Brooks, H., Hazin, C., McCarthy, A., Mukherjee, N., McOwen, C., Steadman, D. (2022). ‘Destructive fishing’—A ubiquitously used but vague term? Usage and impacts across academic research, media and policy. Fish and Fisheries, 2022;00:1–16. https://doi.org/10.1111/faf.12668

Willer, D.F., Robinson, J., Patterson, G. & Luyckx, K. (2022). Maximising sustainable nutrient production from coupled fisheries-aquaculture systems. PLOS Sustainability and Transformation 1(3): e0000005. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pstr.0000005

Willer, D. F., Nicholls, R.J. & Aldridge, D. C. (2021). Opportunities and challenges for upscaled global bivalve seafood production. Nature Food2(12), 935-943. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00423-5 

Campanati, C., Willer, D.F., Schubert, S. & Aldridge, D.C. (2021). More fish, less waste, Blue Growth: sustainable intensification of aquaculture through nutrient recycling and circular economies. Reviews in Fisheries Science and Aquaculturehttps://doi.org/10.1080/23308249.2021.1897520 

Willer, D. F. & Aldridge, D. C. (2020). Sustainable bivalve farming can deliver food security in the tropics. Nature Food1(7): 384-388. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-020-0116-8 

Willer, D. F. & Aldridge, D. C. (2020). Vitamin bullets. Microencapsulated feeds to fortify shellfish and tackle human nutrient deficiencies. Frontiers in Nutrition, 7:102. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2020.00102

Willer, D. F., Furse, S. & Aldridge, D. C. (2020). Microencapsulated algal feeds as a sustainable replacement diet for broodstock in commercial bivalve aquaculture. Scientific Reports, 10:12577. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-69645-0  

Willer, D. F. & Aldridge, D. C. (2020). From pest to profit - The potential of shipworms for sustainable aquaculture. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems4:575416. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2020.575416 

Willer, D.F., & Aldridge, D. C. (2019). Microencapsulated diets to improve bivalve shellfish aquaculture for global food security. Global Food Security, 23, 64-73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2019.04.007

Willer, D. F., Smith, K. & Aldridge, D. C. (2019). Matches and Mismatches Between Global Conservation Efforts and Global Conservation Priorities. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 7, 297. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2019.00297

Willer, D., & Aldridge, D. C. (2019). Microencapsulated diets to improve growth and survivorship in juvenile European flat oysters (Ostrea edulis). Aquaculture, 505, 256-262. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquaculture.2019.02.072

Fitch, A., Orland, C., Willer, D., Emilson, E., & Tanentzap, A. J. (2018). Feasting on terrestrial organic matter: Dining in a dark lake changes microbial decomposition. Global Change Biology, 24, 5110–5122.  https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14391

Willer D, Aldridge DC. (2017). Microencapsulated diets to improve bivalve shellfish aquaculture. Royal Society Open Science, 4, 171142. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.171142

 

 

 

Interesting Stories

Mouth-watering recipes for Naked Clams. Financial TimesClick here

How can we catch less, but eat more fish and seafood. Financial TimesClick here

Are Naked Clams the future of food? The Naked Scientistshttps://tinyurl.com/28e86475 

Shipworm fish fingers anyone? Science's answer to cod. The Timeshttps://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/meet-the-naked-clam-the-new-sustainable-seafood-76l78p3fl

Mackerel en croute? Britons are told to swap out salmon for wild fish in order to get essential nutrients. Daily Mailhttps://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13217797/Britons-eat-wild-fish-essential-nutrients.html

Naked Clams on air. Radio 4https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001slw4

When the King is the warm-up act for Naked Clam aquaculture. Sky News. https://youtu.be/UN8J6Wfde9U?feature=shared

The healthiest way to eat salmon, the ‘chicken of the sea’. The Telegraphhttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/food-and-drink/features/salmon-healthy-way-to-eat-chicken-of-the-sea/ 

Small-scale octopus fisheries can provide sustainable source of vital nutrients for tropical coastal communities. Cambridge University Newshttps://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/small-scale-octopus-fisheries-can-provide-sustainable-source-of-vital-nutrients-for-tropical-coastal

Frozen food giants look to develop farmed shellfish products. The Fish Sitehttps://thefishsite.com/articles/frozen-food-giants-look-to-develop-farmed-shellfish-products-david-willer-cambridge 

Swap salmon for sardines to keep four million tonnes of fish in the sea. The Conversation https://theconversation.com/swap-salmon-for-sardines-to-keep-four-million-tonnes-of-fish-in-the-sea-177871

The world’s their fish finger. Cambridge University News. https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/fishfinger

Scientists supercharge shellfish to tackle vitamin deficiency in humans. Cambridge University Newshttps://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/scientists-supercharge-shellfish-to-tackle-vitamin-deficiency-in-humans

The simple food that fights climate change. BBChttps://www.bbc.com/future/bespoke/follow-the-food/the-simple-shellfish-that-fights-climate-change.html 

 

Research Fellow
Director of Studies
Praelector

Contact Details

Room 3.01 David Attenborough Building
Cambridge
CB2 3QZ
+44 (0) 7507 723137
Accepting applications for PhD students.
Available for consultancy

Affiliations