Timothy Coulson

Tim Coulson
Coulson in 2018
Born	(1968-07-31) 31 July 1968 (age 56) Cambridge
Nationality	British
Occupation(s)	Biologist and author
Title	Professor of Zoology
Spouse	Sonya Clegg ​ (m. 2014)​
Awards	Scientific Medal of ZSL
Academic work
Discipline	Ecology and Evolution
Institutions	University of Oxford
Website

Timothy Neal Coulson (Born 31 July 1968) is a biologist whose research focuses on how environmental change impacts the ecology and evolutionary biology of animals. He is the current Professor of Zoology and a Professorial Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford and was until October 2024 joint head of the Department of Biology at the University of Oxford.

Life and career

He held a series of positions becoming Professor of Population Biology at Imperial College London in 2007. He was appointed Professor of Zoology at the University of Oxford and professorial fellow of Jesus College Oxford in 2013. ^[1] He was head of Department of Zoology, University of Oxford between 2018 and 2021 and joint head of Department of Biology, University of Oxford along with Mark Fricker from October 2022 to October 2024. ^[2] Along with fellow University of Oxford academic, Professor Syma Khalid, Coulson cohosts the Science of the Times podcast. ^[3]

Coulson has been chief editor of Journal of Animal Ecology and Ecology Letters , ^[4] a member of council of the University of Oxford, ^[5] and is currently Vice President (membership) of the British Ecological Society. ^[6]

Coulson’s book The Universal History of Us was published on 13 June 2024 by Michael Joseph, an imprint of Penguin Books. ^[7] It was published in the United States on 6 July 2024 as The Science of Why We Exist by Pegasus Books. ^[8]

Coulson was the subject of an episode of The Life Scientific , broadcast by BBC Radio Four on 27 May 2025. ^[9]

He is married to a fellow Oxford Professor, Sonya M Clegg and has three children from a previous relationship (two daughters and one son). ^[10]

Awards and honours

• Zoological Society of London Scientific Medal (2007) ^[11]
• Imperial College Post-graduate Huxley Memorial Medal (2008) ^[12]
• Per Brinck Award (2012) ^[13]
• Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award (2012) ^[14]
• British Ecological Society Marsh Award (2012) ^[15]

Selected publications

• Coulson, T. et al. (2001). Age, sex, density, winter weather, and population crashes in Soay sheep. Science, 292(5521), 1528-1531. DOI: 10.1126/science.292.5521.1528
• Cubaynes, S. ... & Coulson, T. (2022). Disease outbreaks select for mate choice and coat color in wolves. Science, 378(6617), 300-303. DOI: 10.1126/science.abi8745
• Coulson, T., Mace, G. M., Hudson, E., & Possingham, H. (2001). The use and abuse of population viability analysis. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 16(5), 219-221. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0169-5347(01)02137-1

References

1. "Professor Tim Coulson". Jesus College. Retrieved 2023-06-28.
2. "Professor Tim Coulson". University of Oxford.
3. "Science Of The Times". Science Of The Times. Retrieved 2025-05-26.
4. Ohlsson, M.; Eklöf, A. (2020). ""Spatial resolution and location impact group structure in a marine food web" on Publons". Ecology Letters. 23 (10): 1451–1459. doi:10.1111/ele.13567. PMID   32656918.
5. "Membership of Council as at 31 January 2021" (PDF). University of Oxford.
6. "Our committee structure". British Ecological Society. 24 September 2007. Retrieved 2023-06-28.
7. The Universal History of Us. 13 June 2024.
8. The Science of Why We Exist. 6 July 2024.
9. "The Life Scientific: Tim Coulson on how predators shape ecosystems and evolution - BBC Radio 4". BBC. Retrieved 31 May 2025.
10. The Universal History of Us by Timothy Coulson
11. "Zoological Medal awarded to Imperial College's Tim Coulson". Imperial News. 3 March 2008.
12. "Postgraduate Awards 2008". Imperial College London.
13. Bonte, Dries (September 2012). "Editorial" . Oikos. 121 (9): 1335–1336. Bibcode:2012Oikos.121.1335B. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0706.2012.00172.x.
14. "Royal Society announces next round of prestigious Wolfson Research Merit Awards". Royal Society.
15. "Winners of the Marsh Award for Ecology". British Ecological Society.

External links

• Timothy Coulson publications indexed by Google Scholar