Natural History Section Joint Lecture  Professor Rosemary Collier, FRES. School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick

Synthetic pesticides have been available to farmers and growers since the 1940s and their use has facilitated our food security and the high-quality food that we are used to.  However, it has been evident for some time that they, and the farming systems of which they are part, have been contributors to the loss of biodiversity in the UK and elsewhere.  My lecture will consider several approaches that can be used to manage pest insects without using pesticides and speculate about what it might take for the UK to manage without pesticides in the future.

Professor Collier has a BSc In Zoology, MSc in Applied Entomology and a PhD. He has been based at the same place for most of my working life, now called the Wellesbourne Campus of the University of Warwick, but when she started working there for her PhD it was the National Vegetable Research Station. She is interested in food production and the natural environment and much of her research is focused on the management of pest insects in horticultural crops using approaches that minimise the impact on other species. She is also interested in the wider use of information by farmers, growers and gardeners, including novel technologies for monitoring and managing pests, and the use of information collected by citizen scientists.

This event is open to both members and non-members to attend in person. The event will also be streamed using Zoom.

Members: Members will receive an email about a week before the event providing them with the information required to listen to the lecture using Zoom.

Non-members: Non-members may attend either on Zoom or in-person on payment of £5 (student non-members £3) by booking through EventBrite:

Zoom: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/729342682597?aff=oddtdtcreator

In-person: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/729343224217?aff=oddtdtcreator