Rate My Professor Lindell Bromham

Professor Lindell Bromham is a professor in the Division of Ecology and Evolution in the Research School of Biology at the Australian National University, where she serves as Group Leader of the Bromham Group, specializing in macroevolution, molecular evolution, and language evolution. She joined ANU as a lecturer in July 2006 and has progressed to her current professorial role. Bromham's research focuses on testing macroevolutionary patterns and mechanisms using phylogenies constructed from DNA sequence data to reconstruct species assemblages over time. She investigates how patterns and rates of molecular evolution are shaped by lineage characteristics such as life history traits, behavior, ecology, and macroevolutionary processes including diversification rates. Her studies also address drivers of species diversification, non-random patterns of extinction, and the frequent gain and loss of complex adaptations. Bromham has extended her evolutionary approaches to cultural evolution, analyzing factors influencing language diversity, such as population size, isolation on islands, geography, and social structure.

Bromham has earned recognition for her contributions to teaching and interdisciplinary research. Awards include the Australian Award for University Teaching Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning in 2010, ANU Vice-Chancellor's Awards for Teaching Excellence in 2008 and 2009, Transdisciplinary & Innovation Grant in 2016, and the Australian Museum Eureka Prize for Excellence in Interdisciplinary Scientific Research in 2021. She developed an advanced genetics course and an introductory evolution course, both receiving top student evaluations, and teaches BIOL3206 Evolution of Diversity and VCUG3001 Unravelling Complexity. Key publications encompass textbooks such as Origins of Biodiversity: An Introduction to Macroevolution and Macroecology (2010, co-authored with Marcel Cardillo), Introduction to Molecular Evolution and Phylogenetics (2016), and Reading the Story in DNA; and research articles including Parasitic plants have increased rates of molecular evolution across all three genomes (BMC Evolutionary Biology, 2013), Global predictors of language endangerment and the future of linguistic diversity (Nature Ecology & Evolution, 2021), Macroevolutionary analysis of polysynthesis shows that language complexity is more likely to evolve in small, isolated populations (PNAS, 2025), and Population Size and Language Change: An Evolutionary Perspective (Annual Review of Linguistics, 2025). Her work has advanced understanding of evolutionary tempo and mode across biological and linguistic systems.