George McGavin

George C. McGavin is a British entomologist, author, academic, television presenter and explorer.

Background

McGavin attended Daniel Stewart's College, a private school in Edinburgh, then studied Zoology at the University of Edinburgh from 1971 to 1975, followed by a PhD in entomology at Imperial College, London. He went on to teach and research at the University of Oxford. He is Honorary Research Associate at Oxford University Museum of Natural History and the Department of Zoology of Oxford University, where he lists his interests as "Terrestrial arthropods especially in tropical forests, caves and savannah. Public understanding of science. Exploration." He is also a visiting professor of entomology at the University of Derby.

McGavin is a Fellow of the Linnean Society and of the Royal Geographical Society, and has several insect species named in his honour. He was previously Assistant Curator of Entomology at Oxford University's Museum of Natural History.

McGavin has lectured at the Cheltenham Science Festival, given the Royal Geographical Society children's Christmas lecture and contributes to their Schools Programme. He won Earthwatch's "Irreplaceable – The World's Most Invaluable Species" debate, broadcast on BBC Radio 4, in 2008 and he is a lecturer on board Cunard ships. In 2017 he gave the Royal Entomological Society's Verrall Lecture speaking on 'Tales from television: an entomologist's perspective'

He is a patron of the charity Wildscreen, of the Bees, Wasp and Ants Recording Scheme and of the Alderney Records Centre;, he is president of Dorset Wildlife Trust and is a Global Ambassador for Earthwatch.

He enjoys eating insects, which he describes as "flying prawns".

Television

McGavin was a presenter for the BBC
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