During this pandemic several members of staff in the Department of Biological Sciences at Royal Holloway are tackling the challenge of understanding better the impact around COVID-19 and in particular the effect the lockdown is having on our natural environment.

Our academic staff in Biological Sciences work at the frontiers of knowledge in their subjects, and they frequently appear in the media sharing their research expertise and commenting on the latest thinking that is addressing global challenges.

Dr Becky Thomas, one of our senior teaching fellows, has recently been featured in the international press for an article on the positive and negative effects of the worldwide lockdown on our wildlife.

Read Becky’s article for The Conversation entitled 'What the lockdown could mean for urban wildlife' here

Meanwhile, Mark Brown, Professor in Evolutionary Ecology & Conservation has been considering the positive impact the lockdown might be having on pollinators – particularly bees that have been declining in number and could benefit from current changes in their environment.

Watch Mark from his back garden here