Mark Fellowes

Background

About Mark Fellowes

Relatively newly arrived at Royal Holloway, University of London, where I am Pro-Vice Chancellor (Academic Strategy, Planning and Resources) and Professor of Zoology. At Royal Holloway I have a broad portfolio, with a focus on leading the University's strategy development, developing and honing the planning process, overall responsibility for resource allocation, and also for research leadership. I also have oversight of a range of activities including estates, marketing and student recruitment. Prior to this I was Pro-Vice Chancellor (Academic Planning and Resource) for five years at the University of Reading, where I was responsible for the over-arching strategic and financial planning of the academic Schools, Global Recruitment and Admissions, and Marketing, Communications and Engagement. I also led the University's international strand for much of the last year. I was also responsible for environmental sustainability at the University of Reading, where as a world leading centre of climate change research, we made strong progress towards being the greenest university in the UK, resulting in being placed #1 in the People and Planet UK university sustainability league table. Previously I was Head of the School of Biological Sciences for seven years, leading its turnaround, transformation and substantial growth. By academic background I am Professor of Zoology, and my more recent work focuses on the positives and negatives of human-wildlife interactions. Current projects focus on the consequences of people's decisions for biodiversity in urban ecosystems (primarily on birds, mammals and insects) and on model ecological systems (most recently working on plant pathogens and stored product pests), with ongoing work in the UK, USA, Brazil, Ghana, Nigeria and India. I am Honorary Visiting Professor at Universiti Putra Malaysia. I have extensive media experience, including appearing on high profile BBC television and radio documentaries and news programmes, ITV, C4, CBC (Canada), ABC (Australia), NBC (USA), and in all national newspapers and many magazines including BBC Wildlife and New Scientist. Bizarrely, I was once selected as one of the 100 most influential men in the UK under 40 by Esquire. I have edited/written four books in the Icon Press 30-Second series on Evolution, Biology, Zoology, and Ecology. These have been translated into over 13 languages and are available globally. I also was lead editor for the book Insect Evolutionary Ecology (CABI), with another on Urban Ecology of Tropical Cities (Springer) is in press.