Prof. Kayla King
Phone: +44 186 528 1988
Email: kayla.king@zoo.ox.ac.uk
I am Professor of Evolutionary Ecology and European Research Council Starting Investigator at the University of Oxford. I hold a Tutorial Fellowship in Biology at Christ Church College.
Publications
Positions
2021-2022 Visiting Professor, Biodiversity Research Centre, UBC
International Scholar, Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies, UBC
2019-present Professor of Evolutionary Ecology, University of Oxford
2013-2019 Associate Professor in Parasite Biology, University of Oxford
Tutorial Fellow in Biology, Christ Church College
2012-2013 Royal Society Newton Fellow, University of Liverpool
2011-2012 NERC Post-doctoral Researcher, University of Liverpool
Education
2006-2011 PhD. Indiana University, USA
‘Relationship between host-parasite coevolution and genetic diversity in natural snail populations’ (Funded by NSERC PGS-D, Supervised by Prof CM Lively)
2004-2006 MSc. Concordia University, Canada
‘Parasite communities of leopard frogs from wetland habitats impacted by agriculture’ (Funded by NSERC PGS-M, Supervised by Profs DJ Marcogliese and JD McLaughlin)
2001-2004 BSc. Zoology. University of British Columbia, Canada (Mentored by Prof D Schluter)
Grants and Fellowships
2022 Natural Environment Research Council Standard Grant ‘Host-parasite coadaptation in a warming world’ (PI King, Co-PI Barraclough, Richards, Bebber, 36 months, £750,000)
2021 NERC Standard Grant ‘Tempo and mode of evolutionary dynamics in wild bacterial communities’ (Co-I King, PI Barraclough, 36 months, £845,000)
2019 Christ Church Research Centre Grant ‘Protection in the wild: can bacteria shape animal responses to disease?’ (PI King, 6 months, £28,780)
2018 European Research Council Starting Grant ‘COEVOPRO: Drivers and
consequences of coevolution in a protective symbiosis’ (PI King, 60 months, €1.5 million)
Oxford University MPLS Returning Carer’s Fund (PI King, 6 months, £5,000)
2017 Wellcome Trust ISSF Grant ‘Establishing an animal-microbiota model’ (PI King, 18 months, £99,790)
Philip Leverhulme Prize ‘Evolution of host resistance to coinfection’ (PI King, 36 months, £100,000)
2015 Leverhulme Research Project Grant ‘Transitions to defensive mutualism: an experimental coevolution approach’ (PI King, £227,000)
Oxford University MPLS Returning Carer’s Fund (PI King, 6 months, £5,000)
2014 Oxford John Fell Fund ‘Protective bacteria: an evolving gut microbiome’ (PI King, 18 months, £93,000)
Royal Society Project Grant ‘Can gut microbiota drive parasite evolution?’ (PI King, 18 months, £13,000)
British Ecological Society Small Grant ‘Do gut microbiota impact snail-trematode coevolution? (PI King, 18 months, £5,000)
2012 Royal Society Newton International Fellowship ‘Coinfection and coevolution: an experimental evolution approach’ (PI King, 24 months, £105,000)
2011 NERC ‘Beyond the Red Queen: are elevated parasite evolutionary rates driven by host shifts?’ (Co-I King, PI Greg Hurst-Liverpool, 36 months, £560,000)
Awards
2022 Zoological Society of London Scientific Medal Canadian Society of Zoologists R.A. Wardle Medal
2021 Peter Wall Institute International Visiting Scholar Fellowship
2020 Linnean Society of London Bicentenary Medal
2018 Philip Leverhulme Prize for Biological Sciences
2017 Oxford University Student’s Union Outstanding Graduate Supervisor Award
2013 American Society of Naturalists Jasper Loftus-Hills Young Investigator Prize
Prior to 2013:
ThinkSwiss Research Award
Indiana University College of Arts & Science Award
METACyt Molecular Evolution Award NSERC Canada Graduate Scholarship – PhD
Canadian Society of Zoology Murray Fallis Prize
American Society of Parasitologists Prize NSERC Canada Graduate Scholarship – Masters NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award
University of British Columbia Scholar
Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal