Rate My Professor Hamish Spencer

Hamish Spencer is Sesquicentennial Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Zoology within the Division of Sciences at the University of Otago. An evolutionary geneticist, his research spans mathematical population genetics, the maintenance of genetic and epigenetic variation in populations, population-genetic models of genomic imprinting and maternal selection, phylogenetics applied to New Zealand taxa such as molluscs, pelicans, shags, cormorants, trochids, calliostomatids, nudibranchs, and landsnails, phenotypic plasticity, frequency-dependent selection, spatial structure in population genetics, the Developmental Origins paradigm, and the history of eugenics in New Zealand. Spencer joined the Department of Zoology in 1992 and rose to full Professor in 2006. He was appointed to the Sesquicentennial Distinguished Chair in 2019, served as Director of the Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and Evolution from 2012 to 2015, and acted as an independent science advisor to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment from 2016 to 2021. He retired in 2025, becoming Emeritus Professor.

Spencer has produced over 160 peer-reviewed publications, including the monograph Beyond Equilibria: Historical Approaches to Ecology and Evolution (Oxford University Press, 2025). Among his highly cited works are "Developmental plasticity and human health" (Nature, 2004), "Predictive adaptive responses and human evolution" (Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 2005), "Metapopulation structure favors plasticity over local adaptation" (The American Naturalist, 2002), "A census of mammalian imprinting" (Trends in Genetics, 2005), and "Environmental influences during development and their later consequences for health and disease" (Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 2005). Recent contributions include "Biology should not dispense with sexes" (Current Biology, 2025), "Towards a more nuanced understanding of long-distance rafting" (Global Ecology & Biogeography, 2025), and "Polymorphism and the Red Queen" (Genes, Genomes, Genetics, 2024). His work has significantly influenced evolutionary biology, particularly in understanding biodiversity processes in Aotearoa New Zealand across algae, flatworms, molluscs, birds, and bats. Spencer received the James Cook Research Fellowship in 2022 for his project on the 'Paradox of Variation', was elected Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi in 2009, awarded the Callaghan Medal in 2016, and became a Fellow of the International Science Council in 2023. He is noted for his commitment to science communication and bringing science to the wider community.