Professor Mike Bruford wins ZSL Marsh Award for Conservation Biology

A scientist who specialises in conservation genetics has won an award from international conservation charity ZSL (Zoological Society of London).

Established in 1991, the Award recognises an individual for their contributions of fundamental science to the conservation of animal species and habitats.

Professor Bruford, who is co-director of the University’s Sustainable Places Research Institute and Cardiff University’s Dean for Environmental Sustainability, is a pioneer in the field of conservation genetics and has mentored dozens of scientists from around the globe, including over 50 as PhD students.

Mike’s skillset has equipped him to tackle a diversity of problems in a wide range of taxa. He has led studies on the evolution of domestication and the conservation of the associated genetic variation, the population structure and demography of wild primate populations and in recent years he has been involved in several genome sequencing projects.

At the national level has led on the CryoArks project and raised an initial £1m from BBSRC, to enable the UK research community to curate and biobank thousands of irreplaceable tissue samples of potential conservation significance.

Professor Bruford said: “I am really honoured to have been recognised through this award, especially seeing the list of previous recipients, all scientists for whom I have a huge amount of respect.