Professor Peter Hudson FRS

Peter Hudson was the first to demonstrate that the boom and bust cycles of red grouse populations were linked to their infection with a parasitic worm. In his classic study he gathered evidence through an inventive series of field experiments, treating individually identified birds with antiparasitic drugs and measuring their breeding success.

He has gone on to explore how infection affects population ecology in a broad range of hosts, and under different conditions of climate, predation and food supply. Peter’s interests extend from the spread of infection through wild populations to the transmission of diseases to humans.

He received the 2005 Carlton Herman Award from the US Wildlife Disease Association. He was elected Corresponding Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2010 and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2012. He was given an Honorary Degree by Queen Mary University of London in 2014.

Subject groups

  • Patterns in Populations

    Organismal biology (including invertebrate and vertebrate zoology), Epidemiology (non-clinical), Evolution, Ecology (incl behavioural ecology)

Professor Peter Hudson FRS
Elected 2008
Committees Participated Role
Sectional Committee 9: Patterns in populations October 2024 - September 2026 Chair
Sectional Committee 9: Patterns in populations October 2023 - September 2024 Member
Sectional Committee 9: Patterns in populations December 2011 - November 2014 Member