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Dr Thomas Ings

Thomas Ings smiling as he wanders out and about
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Deputy Head of School

Thomas is an ecologist/behavioural ecologist whose broad interests include invertebrate community ecology, conservation, pollinator behaviour, and insect learning.

[email protected]

Faculty:
Faculty of Science and Engineering
School:
Life Sciences
Location:
Cambridge
Areas of Expertise:
Animal and environmental biology
Research Supervision:
Yes
Background

Thomas is an Associate Professor in Zoology (since 2021). He joined ARU as a Senior Lecturer in Zoology in 2012 after completing a fellowship (2009-2012), postdoctoral research position (2006-2009) and PhD (2003-2006) at Queen Mary University of London. Prior to that, Thomas worked as a Scientific Officer at CABI Bioscience in Egham.

Since joining ARU, Thomas has supported teaching and research in his roles as Deputy Head of the School of Life Sciences (2019 to 2025), Course Leader of MSc Animal Behaviour: Applications for Conservation (2015 to 2019), Director of Research for the former Department of Life Sciences (2015 to 2017), Deputy Head of the former Department of Biology (2015 to 2018), REF convenor (2015 to 2021) and Director of the Animal and Environment Research Group (2014 to 2017).

Research interests
  • Pollinator behaviour
  • Predator avoidance behaviour
  • Animal learning, especially in insects
  • Mutualistic networks
  • Invertebrate community ecology
  • Invertebrate conservation (especially pollinators)
  • Global change ecology
  • Conservation behaviour
  • Urban ecology (especially invertebrates)
Areas of research supervision

Thomas welcomes enquiries from motivated graduates and postgraduates with an interest in writing research proposals with him in any of the research areas identified above.

Current postgraduate research students

2026-present: Gaius De Smidt (co-supervisor with Dr Jim Littlemore and Dr Maria Duarte Rosa – this project is with the Wilderness Foundation and is exploring nature-led recovery for woodland resilience.

2023-present: Vicky Buckle (1st supervisor with Dr Peter Brown and Dr Toby Carter) – Mitigating the impact of beekeeping on wild pollinators: Conservation guided solutions for co-existence.

2021-present: Jennifer Ramsay (Co-supervisor with Dr Helen Wheeler (ARU) and Chris Sandom (University of Sussex)) – Large herbivores and climate: the influence of naturalistic grazing and browsing on climate feedback effects.

Completed PhD students

2025: Amy Wright (Co-supervisor with Dr Dannielle Green and Dr Bas Boots) – An investigation into the mechanistic impacts of conventional and alternative plastics on soil biota and crop production.

2020: Stephanie Maher (1st supervisor with Dr Fabrizio Manco) – The nesting ecology of fossorial solitary bees.

2020: Adam Bent (2nd supervisor with Dr Sophie Mowles) – Consequences of anthropogenic noise when conflicting with sexually selected acoustic signals.

2017: John Pilgrim (PhD by publication) (Co-supervisor with Dr Nancy Harrison) – Biodiversity management: application of biodiversity data to inform conservation and industry practice.

Completed MPhil students

2025: Eferhire Akarator (Co-supervisor with Dr Dannielle Green and Dr Bas Boots) – Organic amendments as an approach to mitigate microplastic contaminated soil.

Teaching

MSc Animal Behaviour Applications for Conservation (Course Leader 2015-2019)

MSc Applied Wildlife Conservation

BSc (Hons) Animal Behaviour

BSc (Hons) Ecology and Conservation

BSc (Hons) Zoology

Qualifications
  • PhD Behavioural Ecology, Queen Mary, University of London
  • MRes Ecology and Environmental Management, University of York
  • PgCert Academic Practice, Queen Mary, University of London
  • BSc (Hons) Biological Science, University of Exeter
Memberships, editorial boards
  • Associate Editor for the Journal of Pollination Ecology (since 2013)
  • Associate Editor for Ecological Entomology (2013-2021)
  • Associate Editor for Journal of Animal Ecology (2008-2017)
  • Member of the British Ecological Society Review College (since 2013)
  • Fellow, Royal Entomological Society (since 2008)
  • Fellow, Higher Education Academy (since 2011)
  • Member, British Ecological Society
  • Member, Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording Society
Selected recent publications

Wright, A. C. M., Boots, B., Ings, T. C. and Green, D. S. (2024) 'Above and below-ground field study on the impacts of conventional and alternative mesoplastics on Hordeum vulgare growth and soil invertebrate communities', Chemosphere, 365, 143393. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2024.143393

Wright, A. C. M., Boots, B., Ings, T. C. and Green, D. S. (2024) 'Impacts of pristine, aged and leachate of conventional and biodegradable plastics on plant growth and soil organic carbon', Environmental Science and Pollution, 31, pp. 11766–11780. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-024-31838-9