The Society's role in encouraging debate and discussion in the life sciences stretches back well over 200 years, now. Yet in all this time, a common theme under the tenure of each of the Society's distinguished Presidents has always been to encourage and develop diversity amongst our membership. And today, more than ever, when the public - as well as professionals - hold a wide range of viewpoints about matters within the biological sciences we extend an invitation to you; join us in helping to shape the future of the organisation.
Officers and Council 2010/2011
PRESIDENT
Dr Vaughan Southgate (1988)
president(at)linnean.org
VICE-PRESIDENTS
Dr Mike Fay
Dr Sandra Knapp
Mr Keith Maybury
Dr Malcolm Scoble
TREASURER
Prof Gren Ll Lucas OBE (1995)
SECRETARIES
Botanical Dr Sandra Knapp (1988)
Collections Mrs Susan Gove (1992)
Editorial Dr John Edmondson (1977)
Zoological Dr Malcolm Scoble (1990)
COUNCIL The President, Treasurer, Secretaries and:
Prof Geoffrey Boxshall *
Prof Mark Chase *
Prof Dianne Edwards *
Dr Mike Fay o
Mr Alastair Land *
Prof Terry Langford o
Mr Brian Livingstone *
Mr N Keith Maybury -
Prof P. Geoff Moore o
Ms Sara Oldfield *
Dr Sylvia M Phillips -
Mr Terence Preston -
Dr Mark Watson -
Dr David Williams -
o Due to retire 24 May 2011
- Due to retire 24 May 2012
* Due to retire 24 May 2013
Council Member Biographies
Prof Geoffrey Boxshall
Professor Geoffrey Boxshall (1998) is a taxonomist specialising in Crustacea - especially the copepods. He has published over 185 papers in peer-reviewed journals and six co-authored books including An Introduction to Copepod Diversity (2004), Copepod Evolution (1991), Dictionary of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics (1998) and Coastal Marine Zooplankton: A practical manual for students (1996). His current research is focused on parasitic copepods and on cave crustaceans. His past research has been recognised by election as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1994 and by a series of awards including the Linnean Society Medal for Zoology (2003), the Excellence in Research Award from The Crustacean Society (1998), and the Scientific Medal of the Zoological Society of London for outstanding contribution to Zoology by a scientist under 40 (1986).
Prof Mark Chase
Professor Mark Chase (1995) came to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in 1992 to lead the newly formed Molecular Systematics Section. Under his direction, the Section has gained a worldwide reputation for excellance in molecular phylogenetics (particularly of angiosperms) and related topics such as biogeography and use of molecular clocks. Author of some 400 refereed papers, perhaps the most significant are the three versions of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group Classification (1998, 2003, 2009), two of which have been published in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. He is an active Fellow of the Linnean Society and a Fellow of the Royal Society. Among other honours, he has received the Linnean Medal and the Darwin-Wallace medal from the Linnean Society, honorary doctorates from the Universitites of Ghent and Uppsala and the Rolf Dahlgren Prize from the University of Lund and he holds an honorary chair at Queen Mary, University of London. He has served on the Council of the Systematics Association. In 2006 he was promoted to the position of Kepper of the Jodrell Laboratory at Kew.
Prof Dianne Edwards
Professor Dianne Edwards CBE FRS (1972) is a Distinguished Research Professor in the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences at Cardiff University. She researches on one of the most exciting events in Earth history, the invasion of the land by higher plants. Some of her research is focused in China which has some of the best assemblages of fossil plants that are preseved in Silurian and Devonian rocks in the world. She is currently a Trustee of the National History Musuem, London and was a Founder Trustee of the National Botanic Garden of Wales. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1996, awarded the CBE for Services to Botany in 1999, elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2001 and awarded an Honorary ScD from the University of Dublin in 2005.
Dr Mike Fay
Dr Mike Fay (1990) is Head of Genetics in the Jodrell Laboratory at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. His research interests relate to conservation genetics and phylogenetics of moncots. He is Editor in Chief of the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society and rejoined Council in 2008.
Mr Alastair Land
Mr WM Alastair Land (2003) is a biology teacher and in charge of the scholar's house (College) at Winchester College in Hampshire. He read Natural Sciences at Trinity College Cambridge, where he graduated with a 1st in 1994. Alastair taught biology at Eton College from 1994 until September 2003, when he took up his current post at Winchester. He is actively involved in conservation and natural history appreciation of all sorts, from organizing the Biology Department's local field courses to leading expeditions to far-flung places such as Costa Rica and the Seychelles. He is also dedicated to using natural history in the biology curriculum and bringing it into the classroom. At Winchester, he has started a popular outreach and access collaboration between Winchester College and local primary and comprehensive schools. While at Eton, he started the Banks Society in order to further the cause of natural history and the appreciation for the history of science. He is an enthusiastic speaker on many topics in natural history and conservation, and he served on the Council of the Society from 2005-2008. He has been actively involved in the Society's strategic development especially with respect to education. He gave a series of 6th Form lectures in 2008 that were very well-received and served to re-invigorate the Society's schools programme.
Dr Terry Langford
Dr Terry Langford (1989) is currently Visiting Professor in Environmental Sciences at Southampton University. After graduating from Liverpool University under the supervision of Professor H.B.N.Hynes, Terry was biologist to the Lincolnshire River Board in the 1960s. He worked as an ecologist for the Central Electricity Generating Board and later as Environmental Information Manager for National Power. Terry’s publications are mainly on effects of power stations on river ecology, (including two single author books).
Mr Brian Livingstone
Mr Brian Livingstone (2000) was involved with the North of England Zoological Society between 1977 and 2003, initially with the Junior Members arranging a scheme whereby this group donated the cost of a School in Tanzania visiting the Serengeti NP. Elected to the Council of the Society in 1984-1990 and 1996-2003, he was on the Membership Committee and the Scientific Committee, being chairman of that committee between 1999 and 2003 and converting this committee from a veterinary audit, to one that looked at all the "animal based" activities. He also piloted the development of a formal research budget through Council so that by 2003, nearly £250,000 was being allocated to field research in partnerships with local universities, FFI and WWF. Veterinary services were also improved with the appointment of the first full-time vet at the Zoo together with supporting staff including a nutritionist.
He represented the Zoo Council on a visit to China arranging formal links with the Chengdu Panda Breeding Centre. This resulted in arrangements for bringing Chinese scientists to the UK for specialist training at Liverpool University.
In retirement he has been an active botanist both with Sussex Botanical Recording Society and on trips abroad as well as keeping his general interests in natural history.
Mr Keith Maybury
Dr N. Keith Maybury (1999) is a Consultant Surgeon (retired), formerly a Prosector of Anatomy and sometime Wellcome Fellow, he was Chairman of Chester Zoo and founding director of Independent British Hospitals plc 1982-1997 which became the fourth largest provider of independent healthcare in the UK. He is interested in all aspects of natural history having read animal physiology at university.
Prof P. Geoffrey Moore
Professor P. Geoffrey Moore (1981) is a retired marine biologist (now Emeritus Professor of Marine Biology in the Univertsity of London). A triple graduate of Leeds University he was awarded the T. H. Huxley Prize of the Zoological Society for his PhD thesis. He spent 36 years at the University Marine Biological Station at Millport ending up as Acting Director. His biological - mainly zoological - interests are broadly based: spanning systematics, ecology, pollution, conservation, the impacts of commercial fishing on the benthic environment and the history of marine biology. He edited Journal of Natural History for a decade and is now Vice-President of the Society for the History of Natural History.
Ms Sara Oldfield
Ms Sara Oldfield (2006) has worked for over 30 years in the plant conservation arena, with experience in a number of leading international non-government organisations. Since 2005 she has been Secretary General of Botanic Gardens Conservation International, a membership organisation that brings together around 600 botanic gardens, where she is responsible for strategic direction and global planning. Prior to joining BCI, Sara was the Global Programmes Director at Flora & Fauna International (FFI), responsible for the management and development of global programmes including the Global Trees Campaign, which aims to save globally threatened tree species and their habitats worldwide, through influencing policy and implementation of practical conservation measures. Sara has also worked for UNEP - World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC) and as a freelance consultant for over ten years. Sara is Chair of the IUCN/SSC Global Tree Specialist Group, responsible for promoting and implementing projects to identify and protect global Red Listed tree species. She has published research papers and poplar books, her latest being "Great Botanic Gardens of the World". She has been a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London since 2006.
Dr Sylvia M Phillips
Dr Sylvia M Phillips (1970) is a taxonomic botanist based in the Kew herbarium, specialising in the taxonomy and floristics of Poaceae (Grasses) and Eriocaulaceae (Pipeworts). She joined the staff of the Kew herbarium in 1966, became freelance in 1982 (after a career break), and in 2007 was made an Honorary Research Fellow at Kew. She is at present working towards a complete review of the genus Eriocaulon in Africa.
Mr Terence Preston
Mr Terence Preston (1999) recently retired from full-time employment at University College, London where he was undergraduate tutor to biology students for 20 years; he is now an Honorary Senior Lecturer on a part-time basis. The lead author of a highly regarded student textbook on the cytoskeleton and cell motility and a contributor to Gray’s Anatomy, his principal research interests are in the motile behaviour of protists, vertebrate crawling cells, invertebrate defence.
Dr Mark Watson
Dr Mark Watson (1987) is Co-ordinator of Major Floras at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE). He is deeply involved with Nepal and heads RBGE's lead role on the Flora of Nepal project. Since his formative years at Reading, field research has been an important part of his work, and Mark has led and participated on many major plant collecting expeditions in China, the Himalayas and beyond.
Dr David Williams
Dr David Williams (1991) is a senior diatom researcher in the Botany Department of the Natural History Museum, London. His primary research interests are the taxonomy, systematics and biogeography of diatoms (Bacillariophyta) and the history, philosophy and theory underlying systematics and biogeography.
