Cornell Chair for WildCRU Director

Dr David Macdonald (pictured left), Reader in Wildlife Conservation at the Department of Zoology and Research Fellow at Lady Margaret Hall, has been appointed as A.D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University. Dr Macdonald, who is Director of the University's Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, WildCRU, is the latest in a distinguished list of academics to hold this chair at Cornell. It includes former University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Richard Southwood (1985–91) and zoologists, Sir Peter Medawar (1965–71) and Jane Goodall (1996–2002). During his six-year tenure, Dr Macdonald will deliver lectures, interact with faculty and students, and develop collaborations between Oxford and Cornell. Dr Macdonald, who is well-known for his popularising of biology and conservation, said: `I am thrilled by this honour at a personal level, but what is probably more important is that it endorses the importance of conservation research at Oxford.' WildCRU's projects include the protection of endangered species and studies of wildlife diseases, such as tuberculosis in badgers, and the impact of farming on wildlife.