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Department of Biology, University of Oxford

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Department of Biology
Formation2022
Merger ofDepartment of Zoology
Department of Plant Sciences
HeadquartersDepartment of Biology, Life and Mind Building, South Parks Road
Head of Department
Prof. Martin Maiden
Parent organization
University of Oxford
Websitewww.biology.ox.ac.uk

The Department of Biology is an academic department at the Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Division at the University of Oxford in Oxford, England, United Kingdom.[1] It was formed following the 1 August 2022 merger between the Department of Plant Sciences and the Department of Zoology.[2][3]

The department is now in the Life and Mind Building on South Parks Road, Oxford. It also has a field station, The John Krebs Field Station, based in Wytham.[4]

Overview

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The Department's research spans levels from molecules to ecosystems in order to address fundamental questions relating to food security, plant molecular biology, disease biology, evolutionary mechanisms, conservation biology, biodiversity, evolutionary developmental biology, climate change and animal behaviour. This department also delivers the teaching of an undergraduate MBiol degree in biology.[5][6] Within its research portfolio, the department incorporates several research institutes such as the Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology (EGI), the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU); as well as housing the Oxford University Herbaria. Several members of academic staff work within the Peter Medawar Building for Pathogen Research[7] and were involved in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic.[8][9]

Additional partnerships and resources of the Department include the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, the Oxford Botanic Garden and Arboretum, the John Krebs Field Station and Wytham Woods.

Research themes

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Research at the Department of Biology is grouped into five broad and cross-cutting themes:[10]

Notable staff

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The following people of note are or have been associated with the Department:

History

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The Department of Biology was formed from the merging of the former Departments of Plant Sciences and Zoology on the 1 August 2022.[3]

The former Department of Zoology, founded in 1860, was housed in the Tinbergen Building until it was demolished in Spring 2022.[11] Designed in 1965 by Sir Leslie Martin (who also designed the Royal Festival Hall) and opened in 1971, the Tinbergen Building was a large Modernist building housing over 1,600 staff and students.[12] It was Oxford University's largest building at the time. In February 2017, university officials announced that the Tinbergen Building would be closed for two years and all research and teaching activities of the Department would be moved elsewhere. This was due to the discovery of more asbestos than had been previously known; too much than could be removed during necessary maintenance with the building remaining occupied.[13][11]

The former Department of Plant Sciences was formed from the Imperial Forestry Institute. The 'Imperial Forestry Institute' was formed from in 1924,;[14][15] later it became the Commonwealth Forestry Institute from 1939.[16][17] The Oxford Forestry Institute was incorporated and became the Department of Plant Sciences in 2002.[18]

In January 2021, the Oxford City Council approved the £200m construction of the Life and Mind Building, which will be the university's largest building project and house the Departments of Experimental Psychology and Biology.[19][20] It will replace the Tinbergen Building on South Parks Road. The building will feature multiple laboratories, teaching and testing spaces providing research facilities for 800 students and 1200 researchers. Work started in 2021,[21][22] and the Life and Mind Building opened on 15 October 2025.[23]

The John Krebs Field Station

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The John Krebs Field Station is the official Field Station of the Department of Biology at the University of Oxford. Situated just outside Oxford near the village of Wytham, research at the Field Station primarily focuses on animal behaviour, physiology and biomechanics. The site was donated to the University of Oxford in 1942 by Raymond and Hope ffennell, as part of a substantial bequest including Wytham Woods.[24][25]

The John Krebs Field Station at Wytham.

The John Krebs Field Station is one of the world's leading centres for experimental biology at landscape scale, where controlled laboratory experiments and natural field studies have been integrated for over four decades to address fundamental questions in behaviour, cognition, biomechanics, physiology and animal welfare.

Key academic staff that have conduced research at the Field Station include Lord John Krebs FRS, Prof. Chris Perrins FRS, Prof. Marian Dawkins FRS CBE, Prof. Ben Sheldon FRS, Prof. Alex Kacelnik FRS, Prof. David Macdonald CBE, Prof. Nicola Clayton, Prof. Graham Taylor, Prof. Innes Cuthill, Prof. Dora Biro, Prof. Tim Guilford and the Field Stations current Director, Dr Steve Portugal. Publications arising from the research at the Field Station have contributed significantly to their respective fields, including major papers regarding behavioural ecology and optimal foraging[26][27], cognition[28], tool use[29] and animal intelligence[30], collective behaviour[31][32], navigation[33] and sensory ecology[34], biomechanics[35] and movement[36], and physiology and animal welfare. Such works were published in influential journals such as Nature[37][38][31][29], Science[26][26], PNAS[33][31], Current Biology[39], and PLoS Biology[36].

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References

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  1. ↑ "Divisions and Departments | University of Oxford". www.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2022-07-27.
  2. ↑ Admin, India Education Diary Bureau. "Oxford launches new department to further bioscience teaching and research | India Education | Latest Education News | Global Educational News | Recent Educational News". Retrieved 2022-08-15.
  3. 1 2 "Oxford launches new department to further bioscience teaching and research | University of Oxford". www.ox.ac.uk. August 2022. Retrieved 2022-08-01.
  4. ↑ "The John Krebs Field Station, Oxford University · The John Krebs Field Station, Wytham, Oxford OX2 8QJ, United Kingdom". The John Krebs Field Station, Oxford University · The John Krebs Field Station, Wytham, Oxford OX2 8QJ, United Kingdom. Retrieved 2022-07-28.
  5. ↑ "Biology | University of Oxford". www.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2022-07-28.
  6. ↑ "Undergraduate Study". www.biology.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2022-07-27.
  7. ↑ "People". www.biology.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2022-07-28.
  8. ↑ "COVID-19 Research". www.biology.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2022-07-29.
  9. ↑ Riley, Duncan (28 February 2021). "Oxford University lab studying COVID-19 targeted by cyberattack". SiliconANGLE. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
  10. ↑ "Research Sections". www.biology.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2022-07-27.
  11. 1 2 "Asbestos find closes Oxford University building for two years". BBC News. 2017-02-10. Retrieved 2022-07-28.
  12. ↑ "The Tinbergen Building — Department of Experimental Psychology". www.psy.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2022-07-28.
  13. ↑ "Oxford University buildings to close for two years due to asbestos". Oxford Mail. 10 February 2017. Retrieved 2022-07-28.
  14. ↑ "Imperial Forestry Institute, Oxford". Nature. 137 (3466): 573. 1936-04-01. Bibcode:1936Natur.137Q.573.. doi:10.1038/137573a0. ISSN 1476-4687. S2CID 46407833.
  15. ↑ "The Imperial Forestry Institute, Oxford". Nature. 139 (3522): 731–732. 1937-05-01. Bibcode:1937Natur.139..731.. doi:10.1038/139731a0. ISSN 1476-4687. S2CID 4070262.
  16. ↑ Harrison, Brian Howard, ed. (1994). The History of the University of Oxford. Vol. VIII: The Twentieth Century. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 260. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198229742.001.0001. ISBN 9780198229742.
  17. ↑ United States Department for Agriculture Making Our Forests and Rangelands More Productive: 1985 Research Accomplishments, p. 149, at Google Books
  18. ↑ Burley, Jeffery; Mills, Roger A; Plumptre, Robert A; Savill, Peter S; Wood, Peter J; Wright, Howard L (March 2009). "A History of Forestry at Oxford University". British Scholar. 1 (2): 236–261. doi:10.3366/brs.2009.0007. ISSN 1941-6105.
  19. ↑ "Life and Mind Building | University of Oxford". www.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2022-07-28.
  20. ↑ Marshall, Jordan (15 January 2020). "O'Rourke joins chase for Oxford university's largest ever building project". Building. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
  21. ↑ "University of Oxford's £200m life sciences building plan approved". BBC News. 2021-01-21. Retrieved 2022-07-28.
  22. ↑ "Current Progress". lifeandmind.web.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2022-07-29.
  23. ↑ "The Life and Mind Building: a new home for discovery and collaboration". Department of Biology. University of Oxford. 15 October 2025. Retrieved 27 June 2026.
  24. ↑ "The Wytham Project: Histories and Communities". www.communityhistory.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2026-09-05.
  25. ↑ "Wytham Woods". www.oxonblueplaques.org.uk. Retrieved 2026-09-05.
  26. 1 2 3 Freidin, Esteban; Kacelnik, Alex (2011-11-18). "Rational Choice, Context Dependence, and the Value of Information in European Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris)". Science. 334 (6058). American Association for the Advancement of Science: 1000–1002. Bibcode:2011Sci...334.1000F. doi:10.1126/science.1209626. PMID 22096203.
  27. ↑ Krebs, John R.; Kacelnik, Alejandro; Taylor, Peter (September 1978). "Test of optimal sampling by foraging great tits". Nature. 275 (5675). Nature Publishing Group: 27–31. Bibcode:1978Natur.275...27K. doi:10.1038/275027a0. ISSN 1476-4687.
  28. ↑ Weir, A. A.; Chappell, J.; Kacelnik, A. (2002). "Science". Science. 297 (5583): 981. doi:10.1126/science.1073433. PMID 12169726. Retrieved 2026-09-05.
  29. 1 2 Kenward, Ben; Weir, Alex A. S.; Rutz, Christian; Kacelnik, Alex (January 2005). "Tool manufacture by naive juvenile crows". Nature. 433 (7022). Nature Publishing Group: 121. doi:10.1038/433121a. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 15650729.
  30. ↑ Dawkins, Marian Stamp; Woodington, Alan (February 2000). "Pattern recognition and active vision in chickens". Nature. 403 (6770). Nature Publishing Group: 652–655. Bibcode:2000Natur.403..652D. doi:10.1038/35001064. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 10688200.
  31. 1 2 3 Nagy, Máté; Ákos, Zsuzsa; Biro, Dora; Vicsek, Tamás (April 2010). "Hierarchical group dynamics in pigeon flocks". Nature. 464 (7290). Nature Publishing Group: 890–893. arXiv:1010.5394. Bibcode:2010Natur.464..890N. doi:10.1038/nature08891. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 20376149.
  32. ↑ Nagy, Máté; Vásárhelyi, Gábor; Pettit, Benjamin; Roberts-Mariani, Isabella; Vicsek, Tamás; Biro, Dora (2013-08-06). "Context-dependent hierarchies in pigeons". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 110 (32): 13049–13054. Bibcode:2013PNAS..11013049N. doi:10.1073/pnas.1305552110. PMC 3740899. PMID 23878247.
  33. 1 2 Biro, D.; Freeman, R.; Meade, J.; Roberts, S.; Guilford, T. (2007). "PNAS". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 104 (18): 7471–7476. doi:10.1073/pnas.0701575104. PMC 1863466. PMID 17452634.
  34. ↑ Lamond, Alexandra E. R.; Potier, Simon; Fontaine, Laurent; Martin, Graham R.; Portugal, Steven J. (2025-11-01). "The visual impediment of cranial ornamentation in male Chrysolophus pheasants". Biology Letters. 21 (11) 20250405. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2025.0405. ISSN 1744-9561. PMC 12646800. PMID 41290151.
  35. ↑ "BBC World Service - Science In Action, Peregrine falcons fly like guided missiles". BBC. 2017-12-08. Retrieved 2026-09-05.
  36. 1 2 Taylor, Lucy A.; Taylor, Graham K.; Lambert, Ben; Walker, James A.; Biro, Dora; Portugal, Steven J. (2019-06-18). "Birds invest wingbeats to keep a steady head and reap the ultimate benefits of flying together". PLOS Biology. 17 (6) e3000299. Public Library of Science. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.3000299. ISSN 1545-7885. PMC 6581236. PMID 31211769.
  37. ↑ KleinHeerenbrink, Marco; France, Lydia A.; Brighton, Caroline H.; Taylor, Graham K. (July 2022). "Optimization of avian perching manoeuvres". Nature. 607 (7917): 91–96. Bibcode:2022Natur.607...91K. doi:10.1038/s41586-022-04861-4. ISSN 1476-4687. PMC 9259480. PMID 35768508.
  38. ↑ Pettifor, R. A.; Perrins, C. M.; McCleery, R. H. (November 1988). "Individual optimization of clutch size in great tits". Nature. 336 (6195). Nature Publishing Group: 160–162. Bibcode:1988Natur.336..160P. doi:10.1038/336160a0. ISSN 1476-4687.
  39. ↑ Brighton, Caroline H.; Kempton, James A.; France, Lydia A.; KleinHeerenbrink, Marco; Miñano, Sofía; Taylor, Graham K. (2023-08-07). "Obstacle avoidance in aerial pursuit". Current Biology. 33 (15). Elsevier: 3192–3202.e3. Bibcode:2023CBio...33E3192B. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2023.06.047. ISSN 0960-9822. PMID 37421951.
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