Research & Enterprise Services (RES)

Heriot-Watt Inaugural Lecture Series 2011-12

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Ecology at the end of the Earth
28th October 2011 - Professor David Hopkins Head of the School of Life Sciences   Main Lecture Theatre , Edinburgh Business School 4.30pm - Refreshments 5.00pm - Lecture

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Abstract:

Antarctica is not all covered with ice! There are sizeable areas of ice-free land where communities of microorganisms, simple plants, and even specialist animals live in one of the harshest terrestrial environments on the Earth.  One such region of Antarctica, the dry valleys region, is the world’s coldest and driest desert, about which relatively has been known until recent years. I have had the privilege of researching the ecology of this unusual, intriguing and remote continent for nearly 20 year. In this inaugural lecture, I’ll introduce you to this fascinating part of the world, the organisms that live there, and offer some insights into Antarctic dry valley ecosystems. With summer temperatures that rarely rise above freezing and perpetual daylight in the summer and perpetual darkness on the winter, it’s not for everyone, but I hope afterwards that you’ll understand why I keep going back.

 

Biography:

David Hopkins came to Heriot-Watt University as the Head of the School of Life Sciences in March 2011, having been Director of Science at the Scottish Crop Research Institute at Dundee for nearly 5 years and Professor of Environmental Science at the University of Stirling since 1999, and Head of the School of Biological and Environmental Sciences between 2002 and 2006. Previously, he held academic and research positions in the Universities of Newcastle upon Tyne and Dundee; he has been a Royal Society of Edinburgh Research Fellow, an Erskine Visiting Fellow at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, and a OECD Postdoctoral Fellow with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Ottawa.

 

Please email to register for this event HWU-Lectures@hw.ac.uk