Benno Simmons Tel.: 07761 489 553, Email: benno.simmons@gmail.com

EDUCATION 2015 - Present PhD Zoology, University of Cambridge Title: The importance of pollinators for wild plant communities

2014 - 2015 MRes Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Research, Imperial College London Distinction

Thesis 1: Vulnerability of biodiversity hotspot biota to land-use change Thesis 2: Effectiveness of a national protected area network in promoting the long-term persistence of biodiversity

2011 - 2014 BA Hons. Geography, University of Oxford First Class Dissertation: Geodiversity and biodiversity: evaluating the surrogacy performance of abiotic heterogeneity in the United Kingdom PUBLICATIONS Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

1. Rose, D. C., Mukherjee, N., Simmons, B. I., Tew, E. R., Robertson, R. J., Vadrot, A. B. M., Doubleday, R. and Sutherland, W. J. Policy windows for conservation: strategies for improving evidence uptake. (submitted). Conservation Biology.

2. Hudson, L. N., Newbold, T., Contu, S., Hill, S. L. L., Lysenko, I., De Palma, A., Phillips, H. R. P., Alhusseini, T. I., Bedford, F. E., Bennett, D. J., Booth, H., Burton, V. J., Chng, C. W. T., Choimes, A., Correia, D. L. P., Day, J., Echeverría-Londoño, S., Emerson, S. R., Gao, D., Garon, M., Harrison, M. L. K., Ingram, D. J., Jung, M., Kemp, V., Kirkpatrick, L., Martin, C. D., Pan, Y., Pask-Hale, G. D., Pynegar, E. L., Robinson A. N., Sanchez-Ortiz, K., Senior, R. A., Simmons, B. I. et al. The database of the PREDICTS (Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems) Project. (in press). Ecology and Evolution.

3. Newbold, T., Hudson, L. N., Arnell, A. P., Contu, S., De Palma, A., Ferrier, S., Hill, S. L. L., Hoskins, A. J., Lysenko, I., Phillips, H. R. P., Burton, V. J., Chng, C. W. T., Emerson, S., Gao, D., Pask-Hale, G., Hutton, J., Jung, M., Sanchez-Ortiz, K., Simmons, B. I., Whitmee, S., Zhang, H., Scharlemann, J. P. W., Purvis, A. (2016). Has land use pushed terrestrial biodiversity beyond the planetary boundary? A global assessment. Science, 353(6296), 288-291.

4. Gray, C. L.*, Simmons, B. I.*, Fayle, T. M., Mann, D. J. and Slade, E. M. (2016). Are riparian forest reserves sources of invertebrate biodiversity spillover and associated ecosystem functions in oil palm landscapes? Biological Conservation, 194, 176-183. *Joint first authors.

Other

1. Simmons, B. I., 2014. The living dead: extinction debt and why biodiversity might be in an even worse state than we realise. I, Science: The Science Magazine of Imperial College, 29, p.21.

2. Simmons, B. I., 2014. The silent extinction risk of Data Deficient amphibians. Biodiverse Perspectives, [online] Available at: <http://www.biodiverseperspectives.com/2014/09/09/the-silent-extinction-risk-of-data-deficient-amphibians-2>

3. Simmons, B. I., 2014. Barriers to evidence-based conservation: scientists are failing practitioners, practitioners are failing scientists and there's not much we can do about either. Conservation Notes, [online] Available at: <http://www.conservationnotes.com/blog/2014/9/4/evidence-based-conservation>

AWARDS September 2015 Southwood Prize I was awarded the Southwood Prize for excellent performance in MRes Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Research.

July 2014 Runner-Up: Quantitative Methods Research Group Prize (QMRG)

My undergraduate dissertation was awarded the runner-up prize in the Royal Geographical Society Quantitative Methods Research Group Prize. This is a national prize that I was nominated for by the exam board.

November 2013 Best Talk: British Ecological Society Mastering Ecology Symposium

Prize for best talk at the conference for a presentation on my dissertation research entitled “Geodiversity and biodiversity: evaluating the surrogacy performance of abiotic heterogeneity in the United Kingdom”.

July 2013 - July 2014 Open Scholarship, Jesus College, University of Oxford

Scholarship for continued excellent academic achievement.

July 2012 - July 2013 Lawrence Scholarship, Jesus College, University of Oxford

Scholarship for excellent academic achievement and first class performance in first year exams.

April 2012 Collection Prize, Jesus College, University of Oxford Prize for outstanding performance in collections (internal college exams).

January 2012 Collection Prize, Jesus College, University of Oxford Prize for outstanding performance in collections (internal college exams).

CONFERENCE ACTIVITY December 2016 British Ecological Society Annual Meeting 2016

I am giving an oral presentation on my PhD research entitled ‘Mutualistic motifs: the building blocks of mutualistic networks’.

May 2016 State of the World’s Plants Symposium (Kew Gardens)

I presented a poster and gave an oral presentation on my PhD research entitled ‘Plant coextinctions following pollinator abundance declines’.

April 2016 Joint British Ecological Society and Cambridge Conservation Initiative Symposium: Making a Difference in Conservation: Improving the Links Between Ecological Research, Policy and Practice (University of Cambridge)

I presented a poster entitled ‘Geoconservation and biodiversity conservation are competing land uses’.

September 2015 Spatial Conservation Planning for the UK Conference (University of York)

I gave a presentation on my Masters’ research entitled ‘Effectiveness of the United Kingdom protected area network in promoting the long-term persistence of biodiversity’.

August 2014 Student Conference on Complexity Science (University of Sussex)

I attended this conference for early-career researchers working under the interdisciplinary framework of Complex Systems.

November 2013 British Ecological Society Mastering Ecology Symposium (Charles Darwin House, London)

A two day conference for early career ecologists and conservation biologists where I gave a presentation on my dissertation research and presented a poster.

July 2013 INTECOL 2013 (London ExCeL Centre)

I attended this five day conference in London including talks on island biogeography, conservation biology and ecosystem responses to global change.

December 2013 Rachel Carson and Ruth Harrison Conference (University of Oxford)

I attended this two day conference at the Biodiversity Institute, University of Oxford featuring talks on animal welfare, conservation at the interactions between the two.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE October 2016 - December 2016 Taught Conservation Science module to third year undergraduates (University of Cambridge)

Supervised students: Laura Bentley (MSc, 2016) - Imperial College London. Grade: Distinction overall, 86.6% in project

REVIEWER / SERVICE Reviewer for PLoS ONE, Ecography

EXPERIENCE

August 2014 - Present Steering Committee Member: Biodiverse Perspectives

I administer and edit Biodiverse Perspectives, a website that covers biodiversity science and fosters communication among graduate students, between students and the broader scientific community and between scientists and the public.

Skills: Science Communication, Science Engagement, Social Media.

July 2014 - February 2016 Founding Member of the Oxford Research Drone Society

I was involved in launching the society with students and staff from Plant Sciences, Zoology and the School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford.

June 2014 Adviser on interpretation of complementarity metrics for academic paper I advised Dr. Martin Westgate on how to interpret surrogacy performance for his paper: Westgate et al., 2013. Global meta-analysis reveals low consistency of biodiversity congruence relationships, Nature Communications, 5, pp.1-8. (see ‘Acknowledgements’). November 2013 - July 2014 Mini Mammal Monitoring

I took part in this multi-species monitoring programme, run by The Mammal Society, to improve knowledge of the distribution and abundance of small mammals in the United Kingdom.

Skills: Experiment Design, Field Skills (bait tube; faeces collection).

May 2013 - June 2014 Secretary and Fundraiser for the Oxford Nature Conservation Society

April 2013 - July 2013 Ascot, Sunninghill and Sunningdale Neighbourhood Plan

I conducted GIS analysis and literature reviewing to advise my local Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group with the design and implementation of wildlife corridors.

April 2013 Oxford Ecology Trail To celebrate the centenary of the British Ecology Society, a trail was established around Oxford; I wrote the Island Biogeography section of the Oxford Ecology Trail website.

SKILLS

R; GIS (ArcGIS, QGIS); Species distribution modelling; Mathematical modelling; Meta-analysis; Biodiversity assessment; Data analysis; LaTeX; CPLEX; Multi-Model Inference; Statistical Modelling; Literature Review; Public Speaking; Science Communication; Science Engagement; Microsoft Office; Microsoft Windows; Mac OS X.

ORGANISATIONS

Member of: Society for Conservation Biology; International Biogeography Society; British Ecological Society; Royal Society for the Protection of Birds; Buglife; The Mammal Society.

VOLUNTARY WORK

December 2012 - Present Surrey Wildlife Trust

I am a volunteer with Surrey Wildlife Trust where I help with practical conservation tasks, such as grassland and site management.

September 2013 - July 2014 Oxford Conservation Volunteers

During my undergraduate degree, I volunteered with the Oxford Conservation Volunteers and helped with practical conservation tasks, such as habitat management and hedge laying.