Dr. Vincent Savolainen

Biography

Professor Vincent Savolainen is the Director of the Georgina Mace Centre at Imperial College London, which unites a multi-disciplinary group of researchers to tackle some of the greatest environmental challenges. He was the Deputy Head of the Department of Life Sciences at the Silwood Park Campus from 2013 to 2016. Prior to joining Imperial College in 2007, he spent nine years as the Deputy Head of Molecular Systematics at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Professor Savolainen is a Fellow of the Zoological Society of London, the Linnean Society of London, and the Royal Society of Biology. His accolades include the Linnean Society’s Bicentenary Medal in 2006 and the prestigious European Research Council Advanced Grant in 2008, alongside the Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award. In 2014, he was elected a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization and received the Coincy Medal for Botany. He was recognized by Reuters as one of the World's Influential Scientific Minds for publishing a significant number of highly cited papers in plant and animal science between 2003 and 2013. In his role, he participates in various advisory committees and panels including the UK Natural Environment Research Council Peer Review College and international committees, focusing on the intersections of field ecology, molecular phylogenetics, and population genomics to address key societal challenges related to biodiversity preservation and ongoing environmental changes.

Research Interests