Dr David Redding

UKRI Innovation/ Rutherford Fellow

Genetics, Evolution & Environment

Div of Biosciences

Joined UCL: 15th Nov 2017

Research summary

My research is focused on understanding human diseases in the context of large-scale changes to biodiversity. It is funded by Ecosystems Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA), a multi-agency funding body comprising of NERC, DFID and ESRC. My current work comprises of three main threads:

- Assessing the spatial extent of Lassa fever with respect to the ecology of its host Mastomys natalensis

- Using multi-species niche models to assess the impact of climate change on the hosts and vectors of Rift Valley Fever

- Using remote sensing data to examine comparative responses of a variety of zoonotic diseases to environmental change

I am also working with number of other collaborators on other macro-ecological and conservation research topics including: quantifying cultural conservation priorities, global conservation funding patterns, phylogenetic conservation priority setting, and developing mechanistic-model based simulations of macro-ecological processes in relation to niche evolution and invasive species.

Biography

My background, prior to coming to UCL, was in conservation and evolutionary biology. After working in the conservation industry for a NGO in Africa and the RSPB in the UK, I undertook a 'Applied Ecology and Conservation' Masters degree at the University of East Anglia, Norwich. My work there on phylogenetically-informed conservation priority setting led to a PhD in Vancouver, Canada with Arne Mooers, and an on going involvement with the EDGE project at the Zoological Society of London

Publications: Show more publications