Join us for a very special weekend, read about our latest research, and more... |
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Dear alumna/alumnus,
We are delighted to announce the launch of the Student Support Fund. This has been set up in memory of John Treherne, who will be remembered warmly by many older alumni as a prominent life-enhancing member of the Department in the decades before his rather early death in 1989. The details of the fund are described below. We hope that lots of you will consider subscribing to this fund. 2024 is going to be a memorable year in terms of new appointments of academic staff. Professor Rob Fletcher has very recently been appointed as the second holder of the Miriam Rothschild Chair of Conservation Biology, Adria LeBoeuf has just taken up her post as an Associate Professor in Evolutionary Ecology, and we are currently seeking to appoint a new Director of the Museum of Zoology at the professorial level. We hope to see you at two exciting upcoming events:
Field Outing to the University Herbarium and Botanic Garden, Saturday 11 May, 1:45pm This will be led by Amber Horning (Assistant Curator at the Herbarium), Nick Davies, Ed Turner and Nick Owens (Part II 1969). Please see details and booking link below.
Zoology Alumni and Friends Annual Open Day, Saturday 28 September This will coincide with the University's Alumni Festival 2024. Programme not yet finalised, but it will include a talk by BBC TV Creative Director Mike Gunton (PhD 1986) showing film-clips of his recent documentaries with Sir David Attenborough. More details in the summer newsletter. With all very best wishes,
William
William Foster Director of Alumni Relations and Fundraising |
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Student Support Fund in memory of John Treherne |
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John Treherne was, during his time at Cambridge (1955 to 1989), one of the most influential and charismatic members of the Department of Zoology: a brilliant scientist, a much-valued colleague, and an exceptional mentor. He became a touchstone for the Department's collegiality and welcoming friendliness, which remain core values of the Department today.
As a tribute to John and the important values that he promoted, we would like to set up a fund in his memory, which will be used to support students studying Zoology at all levels in the University. The most urgent requirement right now is to provide financial support that will enable students to attend the Part II Tropical Field Course, regardless of their financial circumstances. Field work, in the tropics or indeed anywhere, was one of John's many enthusiasms.
To contribute to this fund, please make a donation online. Alternatively, you may contact Dr William Foster. |
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Dr Rosie Trevelyan was awarded an MBE in the King’s New Year’s Honours list, for her services to environmental science and international conservation. Rosie is the Director of the Tropical Biology Association (TBA), an NGO based in the David Attenborough Building in Cambridge, and has been a member of the Department for over 20 years. The TBA, by training many generations of international students, has been a major force in developing conservation biology throughout the world. |
Professor Ron Laskey FRS CBE FMedSci FLSW has recently been admitted as an Officer of the French National Order of Merit (Ordre national du Mérite). This honour has been awarded to Ron for his remarkable career as the Charles Darwin Professor of Embryology at the University and for his important engagement with French science. Previous non-French holders include Queen Camilla, Sir John Barbirolli, and the Empress of Japan. |
Professor Rebecca Kilner FRS has been awarded the ASAB medal, the premier award – given annually – of the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. She joins four other distinguished members of the Department who have been given the award since its inception in 1995: Nicholas Davies, Robert Hinde, Patrick Bateson, and Timothy Clutton-Brock. |
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Field Outing to the Herbarium and the Cambridge University Botanic Garden |
Join us for a behind-the-scenes visit to the Herbarium, led by Assistant Curator Amber Horning: the Herbarium contains over 1.1 million specimens rich in history and from all over the world. This will be followed by a short tour to see some of the animals of the Botanic Garden, led by Professor Nick Davies and Professor Ed Turner with Nick Owens (Part II 1969), an expert on the garden's bee fauna.
Please find your own way to the entrance to the Botanic Garden (1 Brookside, CB2 1JE) at 1:45pm. The tours will finish at 4pm. Please note, there will be a limit of 18 attendees for each Herbarium tour.
We will cover the cost of admission to the Botanic Garden, but please have £10 cash per person to cover entry to the Herbarium.
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Professor Robert Fletcher appointed as the Miriam Rothschild Professor of Conservation Biology |
We are delighted to announce that Professor Rob Fletcher will succeed Professor Bill Sutherland FRS as the holder of this prestigious post. Rob is currently a full professor in the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation at the University of Florida, USA. Rob's research focuses on large-scale applied ecological and conservation issues related to the biodiversity crisis. He will take up his chair in September 2024. |
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Humans and wild birds learned to converse about honey-hunting |
Wild honeyguide birds prefer to respond to people who have learned the specific local calls – it could be a whistle or a grunt – such that both parties increase their chances of accessing honey and beeswax. As Dr Claire Spottiswoode, lead author of the paper published in Science, writes: 'just as humans across the world communicate using a range of different local languages, people across Africa communicate with honeyguide birds using a range of different local sounds'. The study provides a beautiful example of the evolution of a learned cultural trait of cooperation between humans and wild animals, probably over hundreds of thousands of years. |
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Soft skin enabled the evolution of the first big fierce apex predators |
Amplectobelua symbrachiata was one of the first large swimming predators in our oceans. Up to one metre in length, these radiodonts – ancient relatives of modern arthropods – were the biggest apex predators in the Cambrian oceans over half a billion years ago. New research carried out in the Deep Time Ecology Group by Dr Stephen Pates and visiting scientist Dr Yu Wu, and published in National Science Review, establishes that these arthropods grew extremely fast. The unique position of A. symbrachiata as a large, active apex predator without a fully hardened exoskeleton in ecosystems with high levels of predation may have driven this rapid growth, over fewer moults, so that the animals were able to 'go large' as quickly as possible. |
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Tackle inequality so that everyone can take part in reaching net zero |
Not enough attention is being paid to the effects of inequality on the ability of individuals to change their behaviour in order to reduce carbon emissions. In a paper published in Nature Climate Change, Dr Charlotte Kukowski and Dr Emma Garnett argue that it is not enough simply to provide people with information and encouragement. Only with systemic changes that tackle the underlying causes and with policy interventions – such as the provision of bus and bike lanes, and employer-subsidised low-carbon meal options – will lower-carbon choices become available for everyone. |
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Q&A with an alumna: Miranda Weston-Smith |
Miranda's first job after graduating, fixed up by John Treherne, was to help Sir Peter Scott edit his Travel Diaries. She then embarked on a career as a venture capitalist and since 2007 has helped early-stage biomedical companies get investment-ready. She has always been a stalwart supporter of the alumni relations and fundraising campaigns, because as she writes in the question-and-answer: 'studying in the Department changed my life and I would like to help Zoology'. |
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Department of Zoology Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK
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