Senior Hon Prof Fellow: Andrew Illius

Andrew Illius FRSE has been made a Senior Honorary Professorial Fellow.

Professor Illius read General Agriculture at the University of Edinburgh, graduating with first-class Honours in 1972.

Agriculture formed the basis for his interests in plant and animal physiology, ecology, economics and business management.

He went on to PhD research at Sutton the University of Nottingham, studying endocrinology and behaviour.

He returned to the city, by way of Barony College, Dumfries, to take a Lectureship in Animal Production at the Edinburgh School of Agriculture in 1978.

Professor Illius served as the University’s Head of the Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology between 1999 and 2003.

Between 2003 and 2008, he took on the role of Head of the School of Biological Sciences, challenges he found varied and fulfilling.

In 2000 he was promoted to a Personal Chair in Animal Ecology and in 2006 he was elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

As a systems ecologist working on plant-herbivore interactions, Professor Illius’ research combines experimentation with mathematical modelling at physiological, individual and population levels, including the dynamics of temperate and semi-arid grazing systems.

Professor Illius continues to teach undergraduates, as he has since 1973, and maintains an active interest in theoretical and practical aspects of herbivory.