David Whyte Macdonald

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two 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 Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

is a Scottish

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

and conservationist. He is the Director of the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, which he founded in 1986. He holds a Senior Research Fellowship at

Lady Margaret Hall Lady Margaret Hall (LMH) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, located on a bank of the River Cherwell at Norham Gardens in north Oxford and adjacent to the University Parks. The college is more formally known under ...

with the

Title of Distinction The University of Oxford introduced Titles of Distinction for senior academics in the 1990s. These are not established chairs, which are posts funded by endowment for academics with a distinguished career in British and European universities. Howeve ...

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. A member of this family is also called a felid ( ). The 41 extant Felidae species exhibit the greatest diversity in fur patterns of all terrestria ...

. 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 Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a cultural district in South Kensington that included museums ...

, 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 and

WWF-UK The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based 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 ...

, 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. History The trust was founded in 1946 by the ornithologist and artist Sir Peter Scott as the Severn Wildfowl Trust. ...

. 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 Author of the Year award. His ''Night of the Fox'' won the

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

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 law, trust which had operated since 1982, with the initial aim of encouraging and applauding excellence in the produ ...

1988 award. His films include the popular

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

seven-part series ''The Velvet Claw'', a natural history of carnivores.

Awards and honours

He won the Dawkins Prize for Conservation and Animal Welfare in 2005, he was awarded the

American Society of Mammalogists The American Society of Mammalogists (ASM) was founded in 1919. Its primary purpose is to encourage the study of mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence ...

' Merriam Prize for research in

mammalogy In zoology, mammalogy is the study of mammals – a class of vertebrates with characteristics such as homeothermic metabolism, fur, four-chambered hearts, and complex nervous systems. The archive of number of mammals on earth is constantly growi ...

in 2006, and in 2007 The Mammal Society of Great Britain's equivalent medal. He was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

in March 2008. In 2025 Macdonald was awarded the

Linnean Medal The Linnean Medal of the Linnean Society of London was established in 1888, and is awarded annually to alternately a botanist or a zoologist or (as has been common since 1958) to one of each in the same year. The medal was of gold until 1976, and ...

for services to science. Macdonald was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) in the 2010 Birthday Honours.

References

Bibliography

* (Part 2 published 2007) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonald, David Living people Cornell University faculty Scottish documentary filmmakers Scottish science writers Scottish zoologists Fellows of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Scottish conservationists Place of birth missing (living people) Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1951 births Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Conservation biologists Scottish animal welfare scholars