David Whyte Macdonald
CBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
FRSE
Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...
is a Scottish
zoologist
Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...
and
conservationist. He is the Director of the
Wildlife Conservation Research Unit
The Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) is part of the Department of Zoology at the University of Oxford in England. Its mission is to achieve practical solutions to conservation problems through original scientific research, training ...
(WildCRU) at the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
, which he founded in 1986. He holds a
Senior Research Fellowship at
Lady Margaret Hall with the
Title of Distinction of Professor of Wildlife Conservation.
He has been an active wildlife conservationist since graduating from Oxford.
Career
David Macdonald's concept was, and remains, to undertake original research on aspects of fundamental biology relevant to solving practical problems of wildlife conservation and environmental management, and thus to underpin policy formation and public debate of the many issues that surround the conservation of wildlife and its habitats.
From his early work on red foxes he retains a specialisation in carnivores, with an increasing emphasis on
felids
Felidae () is the family of mammals in the order Carnivora colloquially referred to as cats, and constitutes a clade. A member of this family is also called a felid (). The term "cat" refers both to felids in general and specifically to the dom ...
. He has published over 300 papers in refereed international journals, and written or edited more than a dozen books, of which the most recent is ''Key Topics in Conservation Biology''.
Amongst other things he is currently a Visiting Professor at
Imperial College, chair of the
Darwin Advisory Committee, Chair of
Natural England
Natural England is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It is responsible for ensuring that England's natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna, ...
's Science Advisory Committee and board member, a Trustee of
Earthwatch Europe
Earthwatch Institute is an international environmental charity. Founded as Educational Expeditions International in 1971 by Bob Citron and Clarence Truesdale, Earthwatch supports hundreds of Ph.D. researchers across dozens of countries, conduct ...
and
WWF-UK
The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the W ...
, and council member of the
Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust
The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) is an international wildfowl and wetland conservation charity in the United Kingdom. Its patron is Charles III, and its president is Kate Humble.
History
The WWT was founded in 1946 by the ornithologist a ...
.
He has done much to popularise biology with the general public. He is known for his documentary films and his popular books, for which he has twice won the
Natural World
''Natural World'' is a strand of British wildlife documentary programmes broadcast on BBC Two and BBC Two HD and regarded by the BBC as its flagship natural history series. It is the longest-running documentary in its genre on British televis ...
Author of the Year award. His ''Night of the Fox'' won the
BAFTA for Best Documentary Film of 1976, ''Running with the Fox'' won the Natural History Book of the Year award for 1987, and ''Meerkats United'' won the
Wildscreen
Wildscreen is a wildlife conservation charity based in Bristol, England.
The charity was founded in December 1987 from a trust which had operated since 1982, with the initial aim of encouraging and applauding excellence in the production of na ...
1988 award. His films include the popular
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
seven-part series ''The Velvet Claw'', a natural history of carnivores.
He won the Dawkins Prize for Conservation and Animal Welfare in 2005, he was awarded the
's equivalent medal. He was elected a Fellow of the
(CBE) in the 2010 Birthday Honours.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonald, David