Professor Andy Young

I am an Evolutionary Ecologist with particular interests in Social Evolution and Senescence (Ageing) and their implications for the resilience of animal populations. I am Professor of Evolutionary Ecology at Exeter's Centre for Ecology & Conservation (CEC) in Cornwall, UK, where I am also joint Director of Research. Away from the office, I am a rock climber, sea kayaker & father of twins.

For full details of my research see www.animalsocieties.org

RESEARCH

I am an Evolutionary Ecologist with particular interests in Social Evolution and Senescence (Ageing) and their implications for the resilience of animal populations. My team study both via long-term field studies of wild social vertebrates, including cooperative weaver birds in the Kalahari desert and European badgers in the UK. We also collaborate with microbiologists to study the evolutionary origins of ageing in unicellular organisms using timelapse microfluidics. We ask both evolutionary and mechanistic questions, given the potential for each to inform the other.

For full details check out animalsocieties.org

Recent findings from our research on cooperative societies:

- Cooperative weaver birds show architectural traditions Science

- Evolution of sex differences in cooperation via trade-offs with dispersal PLOS Biology

- Mothers lay larger eggs when they'll have more help to rear their young PLOS Biology

- Cooperative breeding allows a Kalahari bird to cope with unpredictable rainfall Science Advances
- Sex differences in cooperation explain sex differences in cooperation across taxa JEB

TEACHING

I am a passionate educator and ecologist, enjoying teaching and discovery in the wild as much as the class-room. Most of my research is conducted in the Kalahari desert, but I have taught fieldcourses in a variety of places, from Costa Rica, Kenya, South Africa & India to Scotland, Switzerland & the Isles of Scilly, right here in Cornwall.

I lead the following taught modules & am a Fellow of Higher Education Academy
- MSc Evolutionary & Behavioural Ecology: Frontiers & Approaches (module lead)
- L2 Isles of Scilly Fieldcourse, St Agnes (module lead)
- L2 Behaviour (contributing lecturer)

CAREER

- Professor of Evolutionary Ecology, Exeter (2025-present)

- Associate Professor of Evolutionary Ecology, Exeter (2016-2024)

- BBSRC David Phillips Research Fellow, Exeter (2010-2016)

- NERC Blue Skies Research Fellow, Exeter (2007-2010)

- Magdalene College Research Fellow, Cambridge (2004-2007)

- PhD, Cambridge (2004)

QUALIFICATIONS

- PhD Zoology, University of Cambridge (2004)
- BA (Hons) + MA (Cantab), University of Cambridge (1997)

I started my career in Cambridge, completing my Honours degree and PhD at St John's, and then holding a Fellowship at Magdalene. I then won a NERC Blue Skies Research Fellowship to move to Exeter’s newly formed Centre for Ecology and Conservation in Cornwall in 2007, to set up the sparrow weaver project, followed by a BBSRC David Phillips Research Fellowship in 2010. I became Professor of Evolutionary Ecology in 2025.