Dr. Jeremy Kerr

Dr. Jeremy Kerr holds the University Research Chair in Macroecology and Conservation and is Professor and Chair of Biology at University of Ottawa. He is elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and Sigma Xi Scientific Research Honour Society. His primary research seeks to discover how the environmental change affects biodiversity. This work has led to discoveries with broad impact, most recently around how and why climate change has affected species survival, with several publications in Science (2007, 2015, 2017, 2020) and elsewhere. Dr. Kerr’s discoveries have achieved a global profile in the media, reaching an audience of hundreds of millions of people. Dr. Kerr is strongly engaged in public science, working at the forefront of efforts to sustain scientific integrity, conserve species at risk, and to propose and implement policies on equity, diversity, and inclusion that have transformed Canada’s research landscape. He is also engaged in public science and policy work in areas related to his research. He is Past-President of the Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution, and an alumnus of the Global Young Academy. Recent research recognitions include Young Researcher of the Year, Early Researcher Award from Ontario, the Excellence in Media Relations prize for Research, and the 2018-2019 Science Ambassador for Partners in Research. He is an executive member of Council for the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, appointed to this role by Federal Cabinet, and is Chair of its Committee on Discovery Research. He also serves on the Pest Management Advisory Council, contributing to science advice for the Minister of Health regarding the effects of pesticides on pollinators. He has appeared as an expert witness before two Standing Committees in the House of Commons on biodiversity and conservation issues (2019) and on the strengths and weaknesses of scientific research activities in Canada (2022). Dr. Kerr also presented his research to Parliamentarians, staff, and research agencies in Parliament as part of the Royal Society of Canada-sponsored speaker series (2017).