Tim Coulson

““Step aside Star Wars – ours is the most astonishing origin story you’ll ever hear and it is beautifully told by Tim Coulson””

— Professor Ken Norris, Deputy Director of Science at the Natural History Museum

© David Fleming

Tim has been a science junky from a young age, and for as long as he can remember has wanted to understand how things worked. On seeing the sea for the first time as a toddler, he stared at the waves for a while before asking his parents, ‘Why do they go and up and down?’ His teachers at Barton C of E Primary School, Comberton Village College, and then Hills Road Sixth Form College – all state schools in Cambridgeshire – encouraged his love of science.

After completing his A-levels, Tim spent a year teaching in rural Zimbabwe with the organisation Project Trust, before returning to the UK to study Biology at the University of York. He went on to be awarded a doctorate from Imperial College London in 1994, before working for the Zoological Society of London, the University of Cambridge, Imperial College and then, from 2013, the University of Oxford where he is Professor of Biology, joint head of the Department of Biology, and a professorial fellow of Jesus College.

Tim’s research investigates the ecological and evolutionary consequences of altering predator population sizes on natural ecosystems. He uses a mix of mathematical models, observations of animals in their natural environments, and experiments in the laboratory.

Tim lives with his wife, Sonya, and dog Woofler, in Oxford.

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Published works