Geoffrey Boxshall

Geoffrey Allan Boxshall FRS (born 13 June 1950) is a British zoologist, and Merit researcher at the Natural History Museum, working primarily on copepods. He earned a First Class BSc in Zoology in 1971, and PhD in 1974, from the University of Leeds. In 1994 he became a Fellow of The Royal Societyand In 1998, he was awarded the Crustacean Society's Award for Excellence in Research. He has been the Secretary of the Zoological Society of London since 2011 and was also Vice President of the Linnean Society Council 2012-2013.

He is a whole organism biologist with a particular interest in copepod crustaceans. These are ubiquitous in aquatic systems but all radiated from a hyperbenthic origin in shallow marine waters. Multiple lineages of copepods colonized the open pelagic, fresh and subterranean waters, and colonized almost all other metazoan phyla as hosts as they adopted parasitism as a mode of life. The overarching aim of his research is to identify and understand the drivers generating the patterns of copepod biodiversity on the largest scales. His current focus is primarily on parasites: the repeated evolution of parasitism in copepods provides opportunities to examine the usage of different host taxa and to explore speciation patterns around major host colonization or host switching events.

Son of Jack Boxshall a Canadian bank manager and Sybil Boxshall (nee Baker), a civil servant in the procurement department of the Ministry of Defence. He was educated at Churcher’s College, Petersfield from 1961 to 1968. He was Vice Captain of College 1967-1968 and Captain of the Hockey XI 1968. He played rugby (open-side flanker) for Hampshire County in both the 1966-1967 and 1967-1968 seasons.

Merit Researcher (Band 1), Natural History Museum, Life Sciences, United Kingdom, 2014 - ongoing

Merit Researcher (Band 2) [=Deputy Chief Scientific Officer], Natural History Museum, Department of Zoology, United Kingdom, 1997 - 2014

Merit Researcher (Band 3) [= Senior Principal Scientific Officer], Natural History Museum, Department of Zoology, United Kingdom, 1991 - 1997

Principal Scientific Officer, Natural History Museum, Department of Zoology, United Kingdom, 1980 - 1991

Senior Scientific Officer, Natural History Museum, Department of Zoology, United Kingdom, 1976 - 1980

Higher Scientific Officer, Natural History Museum, Department of Zoology, United Kingdom, 1974 - 1976

- See more at: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/departments-and-staff/staff-directory/geoff-boxshall.html#sthash.DszP0FjH.dpuf

Boxshall married singer-songwriter Roberta Smith in July 1972, while they were both still studying at Leeds University. They have one son (Keir Justin born 3.5.1978) and three daughters (Abigail Hannah born 2.4.1975, Natalie Sheridan born 15.8.1986 and Amy Michaela born 19.10.1989)

• Rony Huys, Geoffrey Allan Boxshall, Copepod evolution, Ray Society, 1991, ISBN 978-0-903874-21-2
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• Geoffrey Allan Boxshall, Sheila H. Halsey, An introduction to copepod diversity, Volume 2, Ray Society, 2004, ISBN 978-0-903874-31-1