The Anti-Locust Research Centre (ALRC) was set up in London, United Kingdom, by the

Colonial Office The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created to deal with the colonial affairs of British North America but required also to oversee the increasing number of col ...

in 1945, with the aim of improving the worldwide forecasting and control of

locust Locusts (derived from the Vulgar Latin ''locusta'', meaning grasshopper) are various species of short-horned grasshoppers in the family Acrididae that have a swarming phase. These insects are usually solitary, but under certain circumstanc ...

s. The Russian-British entomologist

Boris Uvarov Sir Boris Petrovitch Uvarov (3 November 1886 – 18 March 1970) was a Russian-British entomologist best known for his work on the biology and ecology of locusts. He has been called the father of acridology. Biography Boris Petrovitch Uvarov was ...

was appointed as its first director. Prior to that, Uvarov had been in charge of a small locust research unit in London, formed in the 1920s within the Imperial Bureau of Entomology. The unit later became known as the Centre for Overseas Pest Research. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the ALRC concentrated on its forecasting and advisory services with regard to anti-locust campaigns in the Middle East and Africa. After the war it became a dedicated research centre on locusts, making important contributions in the areas of

taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

population biology The term population biology has been used with different meanings. In 1971 Edward O. Wilson ''et al''. used the term in the sense of applying mathematical models to population genetics, community ecology, and population dynamics. Alan Hastings us ...

and locust control. Its primary aims at this time were the coordination of international research into the biology of locusts and the organisation of international cooperation in the control of locusts. In 1964, both the ALRC and the Imperial Bureau of Entomology became part of the

Ministry of Overseas Development , type = Department , logo = DfID.svg , logo_width = 180px , logo_caption = , picture = File:Admiralty Screen (411824276).jpg , picture_width = 180px , picture_caption = Department for International Development (London office) (far right ...

. By 1990 they had been amalgamated with other organisations, been relocated to

Chatham Chatham may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Canada * Chatham Islands (British Columbia) * Chatham Sound, British Columbia * Chatham, New Brunswick, a former town, now a neighbourhood of Miramichi * Chatham (electoral district), New Brunswic ...

and became the Natural Resources Institute (NRI). In 1996, management of the NRI was transferred to the

University of Greenwich The University of Greenwich is a public university located in London and Kent, United Kingdom. Previous names include Woolwich Polytechnic and Thames Polytechnic. The university's main campus is at the Old Royal Naval College, which along with it ...

References

{{coord missing, Kent Research institutes in Kent