Hamish G Spencer

Hamish Spencer is Sesquicentennial Distinguished Professor in the Department of Zoology at the University of Otago. He first studied at the University of Auckland, before moving to Harvard University in Massachusetts, from which he graduated with his PhD in 1988. His research interests are broad, ranging from the mathematical modeling of genetic changes that occur in human, animal and plant populations, to the use of molecular-genetic methods in the study of the evolution of our native flora and fauna. In collaboration with historians, he has written about the history of eugenics, the laws and attitudes surrounding first-cousin marriage and the historiography of Robert FitzRoy. In 2009 Hamish was elected to Fellowship of the Royal Society of New Zealand and in 2016 was awarded that society’s Callaghan Medal for science communication. That same year Hamish was appointed as Departmental Science Advisor at the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment.