Mark Gillingham

I have always been passionate about biodiversity. Naturally this has led me to study Zoology and throughout my career I have had two hats: academia as an evolutionary biologist and conservation. Upon completing my PhD at Oxford University in evolutionary biology, I shifted my energy to conservation by accepting a position in the Middle East (UAE) as a lead data analyst with strong applied implications to species management. I returned to academia by working on population genetics of greater flamingos with the conservation centered research station of the Tour du Valat in southern France. I have thoroughly enjoyed working at the interface between academia and conservation since. Facinated by wetland ecosystems and greater flamingos, I wrote a grant which was successfully funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. Throughout my career as an academic, I have been heavily involved in the development of undergraduate and graduate students. I have done this in three main ways: 1. Teaching of modules; 2. Mentoring of projects from BSc to PhD; 3. Promoting good practice of statistical analysis in science through statistical consulting and the organisation of a workshop. I am currently working on a number of projects with partners around Europe, including on greater flamingos, finch species of Macaronesia, the yellow-spotted Amazon river turtle and the European pond turtle.