Kathy Willis

Kathy Willis CBE is a Professor of Biodiversity at the University of Oxford, the Principal of St Edmund Hall, and a Crossbench Peer in the House of Lords. She has previously served as Director of Science at the Royal Botanic Gardens and as a member of the UK Government’s Natural Capital Committee. Her research focuses on understanding how plant biodiversity responds to climate change and other environmental drivers, as well as studying the ecosystem services that we obtain from plant biodiversity. She is internationally recognized for her work on these topics, and has led a number of global initiatives on plant and fungal biodiversity change. Kathy is also passionate about communicating science to the public. Her broadcasting work has included writing and presenting the 25-part BBC Radio 4 series From Roots to Riches, and alongside academic papers she has published three books for a more general audience: The Evolution of Plants (publisher Oxford University Press); Roots to Riches (publisher John Murray), based on the BBC series of the same name; and Botanicum (publisher Big Picture Press) which is part of a successful series of books for children. She was awarded the Michael Faraday Medal for public communication of science in 2015 by the Royal Society.