The GENERAL BOARD beg leave to report to the University as follows:
1. Ecology and evolutionary biology are the core subjects of organismal biology. Ecology is concerned with the immediate interactions between organisms and their environment at all levels from individuals to ecosystems, and incorporates a wide range of fundamental and applied subjects. Evolutionary biology is concerned with the evolution of organisms and includes studies of selection and heritability, population and quantitative genetics, phylogeny, and palaeontology. The two subjects are closely interlinked because ecological mechanisms determine the form and intensity of selection pressures and resulting adaptations, while the genetic and phenotypic structure of organisms is a major factor in determining the nature of ecological interactions. These links are of considerable topical relevance at a time when mankind is modifying the global environment, with major ecological consequences.
2. The Department of Zoology has well-established research strengths in ecology and evolutionary biology, including population and community ecology, epidemiology, behavioural ecology, and conservation biology. It also has close working links with the Departments of Plant Sciences and Genetics which have complementary strengths.
3. The General Board, with the concurrence of the Council, now propose the establishment of a Professorship in the Department of Zoology, to be called the Prince Philip Professorship of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the installation of HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, as Chancellor of the University. The establishment of the Professorship would be made possible by the proposed allocation of £2m from the Chest, deriving from funds transferred from the Local Examinations Syndicate to the University in 2006-07. The Council of the School of the Biological Sciences, and the Faculty Board of Biology have recommended the establishment of this Professorship; they have confirmed that any additional costs will be met from within the existing level of recurrent allocation to the School.
4. It is further proposed that the first holder of the Professorship should be Professor T. H. Clutton-Brock, who holds the Professorship of Animal Ecology established for his tenure by Grace 12 of 18 May 1994, and that for subsequent appointments election be made by an ad hoc Board of Electors. Professor Clutton-Brock's research has focused on a wide range of topics in animal ecology and evolutionary biology, including the evolution of animal societies, the regulation of population density, and the effects of ecological changes on the form and intensity of selection. He has also undertaken pioneering long-term studies of mammalian populations (deer and meerkats) and of the evolution of social behaviour in mammals; he welcomes the change of title. Subject to the approval of this Report the University Lectureship held in abeyance during Professor Clutton-Brock's tenure of the personal Professorship will be suppressed.
5. The General Board recommend:
I. That a Prince Philip Professorship of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology be established in the University, for Professor Timothy Hugh Clutton-Brock in the first instance, from 1 March 2007, placed in Schedule B of the Statutes, and assigned to the Department of Zoology.
II. That regulations for the Prince Philip Professorship of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, as set out in the Schedule to this Report, be approved.
| 5 February 2007 | ALISON RICHARD, Vice-Chancellor | WILLIAM BROWN | D. W. B. MACDONALD |
| NICK BAMPOS | PHILIP FORD | MELVEENA MCKENDRICK | |
| GRAEME BARKER | RICHARD FRIEND | K. MOHADDES | |
| JOHN BELL | JACOB HEAD | J. P. SISSONS | |
| TOM BLUNDELL | RICHARD HUNTER | I. H. WHITE |
The Council, on the recommendation of the Planning and Resources Committee, endorse the proposals in this Report that £2m should be allocated from the Chest to support a Prince Philip Fund for Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
| 5 February 2007 | ALISON RICHARD, Vice-Chancellor |
SCHEDULE
Prince Philip Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. 2007. Zoology1. The sum set aside from the Chest to support the Prince Philip Professorship of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology shall form a fund designated the Prince Philip Fund for Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
2. If and whenever the income of the Fund exceeds the amount required for the payment of the stipend, national insurance, pension contributions, and associated indirect costs of the Professor payable by the University, the excess of the income over that amount shall be applied to support the work of the Professor in such a manner as may be approved by the General Board on the recommendation of the Head of the Department of Zoology.
3. Any unexpended income in a financial year shall, in any subsequent year, be expended in accordance with Regulation 2.