Hamish Spencer
Hamish Gordon Spencer is a New Zealand evolutionary biologist, and is a Distinguished Professor at the University of Otago. Spencer was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi in 2009, and is a Fellow of the International Science Council. He won the Callaghan Medal in 2016.
Academic career
Spencer completed a PhD at Harvard University in 1988, under the supervision of Richard Lewontin. Spencer joined the faculty of the Department of Zoology at the University of Otago in 1992, rising to full professor in 2006. He was appointed one of seven University of Otago Sesquicentennial Distinguished Chairs in 2019.Spencer was director of the Allan Wilson Centre of Research Excellence for three years from 2012. He was an independent science advisor to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment for five years, beginning in 2016. Spencer led the bid to hold the International Congress of History of Science and Technology in New Zealand in 2025.
Spencer is an evolutionary biologist, who uses mathematical models and genetics to explore the evolution and diversity of organisms, particularly New Zealand biota. He has worked on frequency-dependent selection and evolutionary developmental biology, and is an expert on New Zealand's molluscan fauna. He is also interested in the history of science, and has written about the history of eugenics and society's attitudes to cousin marriage. Notable students of Spencer include Jemma Geoghegan.
Honours and awards
Spencer was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi in 2009. In 2016 he was awarded the Royal SocietyThe deepwater snail Hortia spenceri is named after Spencer.