Tim Birkhead
Author of ‘The Wisdom of Birds‘
Tim Birkhead is a professor of behaviour and evolution at the University of Sheffield. His research on promiscuity and sperm competition in birds helped to re-shape current understanding of bird mating systems. His undergraduate teaching (for which he has two awards) includes courses in animal behaviour and the history and philosophy of science. He hates administration.
Tim's research has taken him to Canadian High Arctic, Labrador, California, Australia, Africa and Europe. Since 1972 he has maintained a long-term study of guillemots on Skomer Island, Wales which is where he did his PhD. Tim has been president of the International Society for Behavioural Ecology and currently serves on the management committee of the Darwin Correspondence Project. Tim initiated the biennial Biology of Spermatozoa (BoS) meetings at Losehill Hall, Derbyshire in 1992. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2004.
As well as a passion for research, Tim is committed to undergraduate teaching and the public understanding of science and. He has given talks to non-scientists at book festivals, the Royal Institution, at Café Scientifique and elsewhere. He has written for New Scientist, BBC Wildlife, Natural History magazine and the Independent and has a regular column in the Times Higher Education. He has written or edited 10 books, including Promiscuity (2000 Faber & Faber). His popular science books have gained widespread recognition and The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Ornithology was awarded the McColvin medal for best reference book (1991), and The Red Canary (Weidenfeld & Nicolson 2003) was awarded the Consul Cremer Prize. His most recent book The Wisdom of Birds is an illustrated account of how we know what we know about birds.
He is married and has three (recently fledged) children and a dog, enjoys walking, playing guitar and painting in his spare time.
About this talk
Birds, a perennial human fascination, entertained medieval homes long before science took them for serious study. "Wisdom of Birds" author Tim Birkhead tours some intriguing birdwatcher lore (dug up in old field journals) -- and talks about the role it plays in ornithology today.
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