Rate My Professor Tom Oliver

Tom Oliver is Professor of Applied Ecology and Associate Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research (Environment) at the University of Reading. He holds a PhD in Ecology and Evolution from Imperial College London, awarded in 2007, and previously earned a bachelor's degree from the same institution. Oliver leads research on biodiversity change and the resilience of ecosystem functions, with expertise in ecological modelling, climate change ecology, and the interplay between ecosystem function and biodiversity. He has published more than 100 scientific papers in leading interdisciplinary journals and served as leader of the university's Ecology and Evolution research division for four years.

Oliver advises the UK government through secondments with Defra and the Government Office for Science, and he sits on the Food Standards Authority science council and the expert college for the Office for Environmental Protection. He has advised the European Commission via membership of the European Environment Agency scientific committee. His contributions to science communication include two first-place prizes for essays, the Marsh Award for Entomology in 2014, frequent media appearances on BBC Radio 4, Channel 4, ITV News, and outlets such as the New York Times and The Guardian, and authorship of the book The Self Delusion, published in 2020, with The Nature Delusion forthcoming in 2026. He regularly delivers public talks on environmental science.