Tim Cockerill FRES | |
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Alma mater | University of Leeds (BSc, MRes) University of Cambridge (PhD) Imperial College London (MSc) |
Scientific career | |
Institutions | University of South Wales, Falmouth University |
Tim Cockerill FRES is an zoologist, broadcaster and photographer in the UK, he is Senior Lecturer at Falmouth University and has a particular interest in Insects.[1]
Cockerill grew in Hull in Yorkshire, he studied a Zoology BSc and MRes at the University of Leeds and then a PhD in Insect Ecology and Biodiversity at the University of Cambridge; he moved to the Natural History Museum to do postdoctoral research and then did a Masters in Science Media Production at Imperial College London.[2] He was a Senior Lecturer at the University of South Wales where he taught natural history[3] before moving to Falmouth University in 2018 where he teaches natural history photography.[1]
Cockerill is a regular on BBC Radio Science programmes such as Science in Action,[4] Inside Science[5] and Crowd Science.[6]
He was on the Natural Histories episode 'Fleas' with Brett Westwood in 2015[7] and the Infinite Monkey Cage episode 'Will insects inherit the earth' in 2017 with Brian Cox, Robin Ince and Amoret Whitaker.[8] In 2014 he was on the BBC Four television programme Spider House.[9]
In 2017 he presented a series of BBC World Service The Evidence episodes with Claudia Hammond about the relationships between humans and animals,[10] this included a live event at the Wellcome Collection,[11]
He contributed to the Guardian podcast episode 'Challenge of taxonomy and defining species' in 2018.[12]
Cockerill has an interest in the history of flea circuses and he has spoken about them on radio[13] and in videos.[14] In 2010 he recreated a working flea circus[15] for the 2010 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures[16] and in 2021 he exhibited a flea circus at the virtual Insect Fear Film Festival.[17]
Cockerill was awarded a Science Media Studentship from the Wellcome Trust in 2012–2014,[18]
He was runner up in the British Ecological Society's photography competition in 2013 for his image of an oil palm plantation in Borneo.[19] In 2014 his image of Wallace's beetle Cyriopalus wallacei won first prize in the Royal Entomological Society's National Insect Week photography competition category 'Small is Beautiful'[20] and in 2020 he became chair of the judging panel, working with Ashleigh Whiffin.[21]
Cockerill is a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society and is a current Trustee of the society.[22]