Laurent Keller
Laurent Keller is a Swiss evolutionary biologist, myrmecologist and author. He is known for his influential work on the behavior, genetics and ecology of social insects, particularly ants. His research has significantly advanced the understanding of social evolution, altruism cooperation, aging, reproductive systems, invasive species, and social organization of social insects. He has published numerous scientific articles and written and edited several books on these subjects.
Keller was a professor at the University of Lausanne from 1996 to 2023 where he established a highly regarded academic career spanning nearly three decades. He received numerous honors, including the Latsis prize in 2000, the EO Naturalist Award in 2005, and the Marcel Benoist Prize in 2015. His tenure at the University ended early March 2023. Media reports later referred to allegations that were not supported by publicly cited formal complaints or official findings. The University of Lausanne did not publicly comment on the circumstances of his departure. In August 2024, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung published an article reporting that Keller had reached an out-of-court settlement with the University while noting that the reasons for his departure remained undisclosed. The article also highlighted that many of Keller's former students, now in prominent academic positions, expressed support to him.
Life, studies and career
Keller was born and raised in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. He studied biology at the University of Lausanne where he completed his bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees. He subsequently held several positions, including as a research associate at the Laboratory of Entomology of the University Paul-Sabatier in Toulouse, a post-doctoral research position at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University, and a START fellowship shared between the University of Bern University of Bern and the University of Lausanne.He joined the University of Lausanne as an Associate Professor in 1996, became head of the Institute of Ecology in 1998 and was promoted to Full Professor of Evolutionary Ecology in 2000. He served as head of the Department of Ecology and Evolution from 2000 to 2018. He left the University in 2023, and the institution did not publicly disclose the reasons for his departure.
In August 2013, he was elected president of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology and served in that office from 2015 to 2017.
For a time, he served as a member of the Editorial Board for Current Biology.
Research
Laurent Keller has contributed to the study of the evolution of eusociality in ants with numerous scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals, invited talks and seminars, and appearances in the media.His research group is aiming to "understand the principles governing the evolution of animal societies and the ecological and evolutionary consequences of social life". Disciplines in which members of his research group are active include animal behaviour, ecology, evolutionary genetics, and genomics.