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RVC professor elected a Fellow of the Royal Society
Professor Oliver Pybus' work aims to understand how evolutionary and ecological processes interact in natural populations.

Professor Oliver Pybus' work has contributed significantly to the COVID-19 response. 

Professor Oliver Pybus, vice-principal for research and innovation at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC), has received the highest recognition of scientific achievement in the UK, being elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS).

The Royal Society is a self-governing Fellowship comprising some of the most eminent scientists, engineers and technologists from the UK and the Commonwealth. Members are elected for life through a peer-review process based on excellence in science. 

Professor Pybus' work aims to understand how evolutionary and ecological processes interact in natural populations. His career has seen him develop tools for inferring population dynamics from gene sequences  and show how analysis of pathogen genomes can provide new insights into virus epidemic history and transmission. 

Professor Pybus' work has also contributed significantly to the COVID-19 response - with the role of virus genomics made feasible in part by ideas he and colleagues developed and applied to other viruses over the previous 20 years. 

His published work includes a high-profile analysis of the mass introduction of COVID-19 into the UK via international travel and the development of the lineage naming scheme (B.1.1.7, BA.1 etc...), helping inform public health and public discourse throughout the pandemic. 

Professor Pybus also holds a Professorship in Evolution and Infectious Disease at the University of Oxford and a Professorial Fellow of New College, Oxford. He was awarded the Scientific Medal of the Zoological Society of London in 2009 and the Mary Lyon Medal of the Genetics Society in 2019. 

Professor Pybus said: “It is a great honour to be elected a Royal Society Fellow, and humbling to join scientists past and present who inspired and influenced me as a student. I hope to use my position to better support and mentor the researchers of the future. Modern science is a team effort and I am deeply grateful to my collaborators and colleagues, without whom my work would not have been possible.”

Professor Stuart Reid CBE, President and Principal of the RVC, added: “Recognition by the Royal Society is amongst the very highest scientific accolades internationally and I am delighted for Oliver. He brings distinction to himself, his collaborators and his discipline and I am grateful to count him a senior colleague in the leadership team here at the Royal Veterinary College.”  

Image (C) RVC.

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Cold-water dip to raise funds for Vetlife

News Story 1
 The veterinary mental health charity Vetlife is inviting the veterinary community to join it for a sponsored cold-water dip.

The event will take place at Walpole Bay, Margate, on 17 May during Mental Health Awareness Week. Participants of all abilities can join in the challenge and are advised to bring a towel, a hot drink, a snack, and warm clothes to get changed into afterwards.

Those taking part are being asked to try to raise 100 each to support the work of the charity.

Details about how to take part can be found here. 

Click here for more...
News Shorts
Bluetongue low vector period ends

In an update to its bluetongue guidance, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has announced that the seasonal low vector period for the disease has ended.

With winter over, Defra is planning for a possible increase in cases as midges become more active. It has warned that farms along the east coast of England from Norfolk to Kent, and along the south coast from Kent to Devon, are at highest risk from infected midges blown over from northern Europe.

Since the virus was detected in England in November 2023, there have been 126 confirmed cases. The most recent case to be confirmed was on 1 March 2024.

Farmers are asked to continue to frequently monitor their livestock and ensure their animals and land are registered with the Animal and Plant Health Agency.