Rate My Professor Russell Foster

Russell Foster is Professor of Circadian Neuroscience at the University of Oxford and Head of the Nuffield Laboratory of Ophthalmology. He also serves as Director of the Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute and holds the position of Nicholas Kurti Senior Fellow at Brasenose College. Prior to his appointment at Oxford in 2005, Foster was Chair of Molecular Neuroscience in the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London. He received his education at the University of Bristol, earning a BSc and PhD under the supervision of Professor Sir Brian Follett. Between 1988 and 1995, he was affiliated with the National Science Foundation Center for Biological Rhythms at the University of Virginia, collaborating closely with Michael Menaker. Foster’s research encompasses basic and applied aspects of circadian and photoreceptor biology, with a particular emphasis on the mechanisms by which light regulates vertebrate circadian rhythms and the identification of non-rod, non-cone ocular photoreceptors. He has authored or co-authored over 300 scientific papers and several popular science books, including the co-authored “Rhythms of Life” and the sole-authored Sunday Times bestseller “Life Time: The New Science of the Body Clock, and How It Can Revolutionise Your Sleep and Health” published in 2022. Foster is a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) and a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci). In 2015 he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to science. His contributions have been recognised by multiple awards, including the Honma Prize, the Cogan Award, the Zoological Society of London Scientific Medal, the Edridge-Green Medal, and the Daylight Award.