Katherine Elizabeth Jones (born 1972) is a British

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic ('' genetic variability''), species ('' species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') ...

scientist, with a special interest in

bat Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most bi ...

s. She is Professor of Ecology and Biodiversity, and Director of the Biodiversity Modelling Research Group, at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

. She is a past chair of the

Bat Conservation Trust The Bat Conservation Trust (BCT) is a registered British charity dedicated to the conservation of bats and their habitats in the UK. BCT was founded in 1991 and is the only national organisation solely devoted to bats. Its vision is a world wher ...

Education

Jones graduated with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree in Zoology from the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , t ...

in 1993 and with a Ph.D. from the University of Surrey in 1998.

Research

Jones is interested in understanding how biodiversity is maintained and conserved globally. She won a 2008 Philip Leverhulme Award in Zoology (given to "outstanding young scholars … whose future contributions are held to be of correspondingly high promise") and holds a number of scientific advisory board positions for national and international conservation charities. Jones has researched bats in

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the ...

where she developed new ways of monitoring bat populations through sound. Jones has been involved in a number of citizen science projects including Bat Detective and a phone related bat monitoring project. According to

Google Scholar Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Released in beta in November 2004, the Google Scholar index includes pee ...

and Scopus her most cited papers have been published in ''

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence ...

'' and ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are p ...

''.

Honours and awards

Jones was awarded the Philip Leverhulme Prize in 2011. In 2022 she was awarded the Marsh Award for Conservation Biology by the Zoological Society of London and the

Marsh Ecology Award The Marsh Ecology Award is a prize awarded annually from 1996 onwards to recognise outstanding recent discovery or development which has had a significant impact on the development of the science of ecology or its application. The Award is an hono ...

from the

British Ecological Society The British Ecological Society is a learned society in the field of ecology that was founded in 1913. It is the oldest ecological society in the world. The Society's original objective was "to promote and foster the study of Ecology in its widest ...

Personal life

Jones is also known for her love of

cocktail A cocktail is an alcoholic mixed drink. Most commonly, cocktails are either a combination of spirits, or one or more spirits mixed with other ingredients such as tonic water, fruit juice, flavored syrup, or cream. Cocktails vary widely across ...

s, which she discussed with

Jim Al-Khalili Jameel Sadik "Jim" Al-Khalili ( ar, جميل صادق الخليلي; born 20 September 1962) is an Iraqi-British theoretical physicist, author and broadcaster. He is professor of theoretical physics and chair in the public engagement in scien ...

on the BBC radio programme ''

The Life Scientific ''The Life Scientific'' is a BBC Radio 4 science programme, presented by Professor Jim Al-Khalili , in which each episode is dedicated to the biography and work of one living scientist. The programme consists of an interview between Al-Khalili a ...

''. In a ''

Guardian Guardian usually refers to: * Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another * ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper (The) Guardian(s) may also refer to: Places * Guardian, West Virginia, Unit ...

'' feature on "Why more women should consider a career in science", Jones said:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Kate 1972 births Living people British mammalogists British ecologists Women ecologists Alumni of the University of Leeds Alumni of the University of Surrey Academics of University College London