Rate My Professor Niclas Kolm

Niclas Kolm is Professor of Ethology and Head of the Department of Zoology at Stockholm University. He obtained his PhD from Uppsala University in 2003, focusing on mate choice and parental investment in a mouthbrooding cardinalfish from central Sulawesi through laboratory experiments and fieldwork. After his doctorate, he served as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of East Anglia in Norwich from 2004 to 2005 and at the University of Edinburgh from 2005 to 2006. He returned to Uppsala University as a researcher from 2006 to 2013, funded by a fellowship from the Swedish Research Council. In the summer of 2013, he joined Stockholm University as a professor and later relocated permanently to Stockholm.

Kolm's research examines brain evolution and the connections between variation in brain morphology and behavior across diverse taxa, including cichlids, pipefishes, seahorses, birds, dogs, pinnipeds, cetaceans, salmonids, and poeciliids. His approaches encompass phylogenetic comparative analyses and laboratory experiments, with facilities supporting over 4000 aquaria—primarily guppy selection lines—and dedicated rooms for assays on cognition, mate choice, and collective motion. He leads the Kolm research group, comprising 1-3 PhD students, 1-3 postdocs, and several master's and internship students. Notable publications include 'Artificial selection on relative brain size in the guppy reveals costs and benefits of evolving a larger brain' (Current Biology, 2013), 'Species diversity can drive speciation' (Nature, 2005), 'Female promiscuity promotes the evolution of faster sperm in cichlid fishes' (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2009), 'Brains and the city: big-brained passerine birds succeed in urban environments' (Biology Letters, 2011), and 'Breakdown of brain–body allometry and the encephalization of birds and mammals' (Nature Ecology & Evolution, 2018). His scholarship has accumulated over 6,000 citations. Kolm contributes to teaching, allocating about 15% of his time, and holds faculty roles as Vice Dean of the Biology Section, member of the Faculty Board and IT Committee, and Chair of the Information Committee since 2024.