Professor Isabel Smallegange, SFHEA
Professor of Biological Science and Head of Department
Department of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway, University of London
My full CV and Publication List (September 2026) can be found here: Smallegange_CV and Publication List September 2026. My publications can also be found on Google Scholar.
Qualifications
2022 Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA), UK
2014 University Teaching Qualification for Lecturers (BKO), The Netherlands
2007 PhD, Interference competition and patch choice in foraging shore crabs, Netherlands Institute for Sea Research & University of Amsterdam
2000 BSc & MSc Population Biology, Wageningen University, The Netherlands
Professional history
2026–present Professor of Biological Science and Head of Department, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK
2022–2026 Senior Lecturer in Population Biology, Newcastle University, UK
2018–2022 Associate Professor, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2013–2018 MacGillavry Fellow, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2012–2013 Research Fellow, University of Oxford, UK
2010–2012 Research Fellow, Imperial College London, UK
2008–2010 Rubicon Fellow, Dutch Research Council (NWO), held at Imperial College London
2007–2008 Alexander von Humboldt Fellow, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Germany
2005 Marie Curie Research Trainee Fellow, University of Exeter, UK
Selected leadership and professional roles
2026–present Co-Chair, IUCN Species Survival Commission Mite Specialist Group
2024–2026 Co-Lead, Behaviour Newcastle University Centre of Research Excellence
2024–2026 Director of Culture & Inclusion, Newcastle University
2023–2026 Group Lead, Modelling, Evidence and Policy, Newcastle University
2022–2024 Co-Director, Centre for Behaviour and Evolution, Newcastle University
I also serve on international grant-review and scientific advisory bodies and have held editorial roles with Journal of Animal Ecology, Functional Ecology, Oikos and Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata.
Research interests
My research focuses on how development shapes life histories and population dynamics in changing environments. I combine ecological modelling, demographic approaches and empirical research across marine and terrestrial systems, with three closely connected areas of interest:
Developmentally informed demography and eco-evolutionary dynamics
I develop demographic approaches that connect individual development with population-level processes, asking how developmental variation influences ecological and evolutionary responses to environmental change.
Life-history variation and environmental change
My research examines how variation in growth, survival and reproduction shapes population performance and resilience. This includes the development of DEB-IPMs and the open-access DEBBIES dataset, which enable comparative analyses of life histories across ectotherms. You can it download here along with the accompanying paper by Smallegange & Lucas (2024). For those interested, I’ve recorded a couple of videos explaining what a DEB-IPM is and how you can apply DEB-IPMs to answer life history and conservation questions.
Developmental plasticity, energetics and agency
I investigate how organisms actively respond to and modify their environments during development, and how these processes generate lasting variation in phenotype, life-history strategy and population dynamics. This work underpins my current NERC-funded research programme on development-centred demography (explained in part in this paper). Applications of this work range from model invertebrates to fishes and marine megafauna, with implications for biodiversity conservation and understanding population responses to global environmental change.
