Rate My Professor Charles Griffiths

Charles L. Griffiths is Emeritus Professor and Senior Scholar in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Cape Town. Born in Kenya, he was educated at Blundell’s Public School in Devon, United Kingdom, and obtained a BSc (Hons) from Southampton University in 1970. He completed his PhD at the University of Cape Town in 1974. He joined the University of Cape Town staff at the age of 22 as a Research Assistant and advanced through the ranks to Full Professor. He served as Director of the UCT Marine Biology Research Centre for 17 years until his retirement in 2013.

His research focuses on the documentation of marine biodiversity, coastal ecology, and the impacts of marine alien species. He has authored papers describing well over 100 species new to science and recording more than 200 additional species in South Africa for the first time, with six new species named in his honour by other researchers. Griffiths has published nine guide books on South African fauna, including the best-selling field guides Two Oceans – a Guide to the Marine Life of South Africa (now in its fifth edition), Field Guide to the Insects of South Africa (now in its third edition), Freshwater Life, and Moths of southern Africa and their caterpillars. He has also published 17 book chapters, 232 research articles, and over 84 semi-popular scientific articles. His work has an h-index of 51 and has been cited more than 8,500 times. Griffiths is a recipient of the UCT Book Award, a Life Fellow of the University of Cape Town, a Distinguished Fellow of the International Biogeography Society, a Core Team Member of the DST/NRF Centre of Excellence in Invasion Biology, and winner of the Gold Medal of the Zoological Society of South Africa. He is a former editor of the journal African Zoology and has served on the editorial boards of Marine Biology, Koedoe, Smithiana, Animals, and African Natural History.