J. Steve Jones PhD

Professor of Genetics and Head of Department

j.s.jones@ucl.ac.uk
tel: (+44)-(0)20-7679-7416
fax: (+44)-(0)20-7679-5052

Without variation there could be no genetics and no evolution so why is it there? Perhaps surprisingly we have no real idea; and I have spent many years studying the ecological genetics of snails, fruitflies and humans in an attempt to understand this issue. Certain snails are very diverse in their shell characters, and I have collected hundreds of thousands of specimens from all over Europe in an attempt to find out why. I have also worked on fruit flies in variable environments, both in the wild and in the laboratory. At the moment I am particularly involved in looking at the interaction of thermal ecology and genetics in snails and in Drosophila.

I have for several years been involved with the media, largely in presenting scientific work but also in a more general context. I have appeared on BBC Radio on more than two hundred occasions. I gave the 1991 Reith Lectures on "The Language of the Genes" and have since then written and presented a long-running Radio 3 series on science and the arts, "Blue Skies", and a six-part TV series on human genetics, "In the Blood"; broadcast in 1996. I have also appeared in various other TV programmes, from Question Time to Late Review to Newsnight. In addition I have written extensively in the press on scientific issues and have a regular column in The Daily Telegraph - "View from the Lab".

I have given large numbers of named lectures, and frequently visit and speak at schools and schools conferences. I have, I estimate, spoken directly to more than 100 000 school pupils during my career and am UCL’s representative on the recently-established London Regional Science Centre, which aims to provide in-career training to science teachers.

I won the Rhone-Poulenc book prize and the Yorkshire Post first book prize in 1994; and the BP Natural World Book Prize in 1999. In 1995 I was a member of the NCR Non-Fiction Book Prize judging panel, in 2000 the Guardian First Book Prize Panel and in 2001 the Samuel Johnson Book Prize Panel. I was awarded the Royal Society Faraday Medal for public understanding of science in 1997, the BP Natural World Book Prize in 2000 and the Institute of Biology Charter Medal in 2002. I am President of the Galton Institute.