Rate My Professor Dave Hodgson

Professor Dave Hodgson serves as Professor of Ecology and Head of the Department of Ecology and Conservation at the University of Exeter's Penryn Campus in Cornwall. Originally from New Zealand, where he completed his PhD via a Commonwealth Scholarship as an undergraduate ecologist and statistician, Hodgson previously worked at a research institute in Oxfordshire. He joined the University of Exeter in 2002 on a two-year fixed-term contract to lead undergraduate training in conservation biology and ecology during the transition to the Penryn Campus. Securing a permanent lectureship upon the campus opening, he progressed through roles including Director of the Centre for Ecology and Conservation, Associate Dean for Education, and Director of Education, culminating in his current leadership position. Under his stewardship, the department has expanded from six to seventy staff members, significantly grown student numbers across specialized degrees in conservation, ecology, zoology, animal behaviour, evolutionary biology, and marine biology, and increased research funding by several orders of magnitude, achieving a global ranking of 12th for ecological research quality.

Hodgson's academic interests centre on quantitative ecology, encompassing life history evolution, demography, conservation, and wildlife disease, with emphasis on population responses to environmental disturbances through theoretical and computational modelling, big data analysis, and empirical studies. His research contributes to practical applications such as species translocations for beavers and water voles, surveys of seagrass and maerl beds, fisheries sustainability, living landscape initiatives in West Penwith, urban seagull management, and biodiversity advisory boards. With over 15,000 citations and 222 publications documented on ResearchGate, key works include 'Demographic amplification is a predictor of invasiveness among plants introduced to New Zealand' (Nature Communications, 2019), 'Migrant birds and mammals live faster than residents' (Nature Communications, 2020), 'Identification of 100 fundamental ecological questions' (Journal of Ecology, 2013), 'Global terrestrial invasions: Where naturalised birds, mammals, and plants might spread next' (Global Ecology and Biogeography, 2023), and 'What do you mean, "resilient"?' (Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 2015). Hodgson maintains public engagement via media, lectures, and committee roles, fostering Cornwall's knowledge economy through graduate contributions to conservation and related sectors.