Professor Ben Garrod is an academic, author, and broadcaster. He is a multi-disciplinary scientist, with a focus spanning evolution, zoology, and conservation. Ben is an award-winning broadcaster, presenting and co-presenting a wide range of television and radio science documentaries and series, and has written numerous books, where the focus is on inspiring younger audiences to be passionate, inquisitive, and confident about science. Ben is Professor of Evolutionary Biology and Science Engagement at The University of East Anglia, in Norwich. His Masters was in Wild Animal Biology at the Royal Veterinary College, London, and his PhD at UCL, entitled ‘Primates of the Caribbean’, focused on studying the early stages of speciation in island-living monkeys through molecular and anatomical changes. In 2014,...
Professor Ben Garrod is an academic, author, and broadcaster. He is a multi-disciplinary scientist, with a focus spanning evolution, zoology, and conservation. Ben is an award-winning broadcaster, presenting and co-presenting a wide range of television and radio science documentaries and series, and has written numerous books, where the focus is on inspiring younger audiences to be passionate, inquisitive, and confident about science.
Ben is Professor of Evolutionary Biology and Science Engagement at The University of East Anglia, in Norwich. His Masters was in Wild Animal Biology at the Royal Veterinary College, London, and his PhD at UCL, entitled ‘Primates of the Caribbean’, focused on studying the early stages of speciation in island-living monkeys through molecular and anatomical changes.
In 2014, Ben presented his first TV documentary, with the award-winning BBC4 series ‘Secrets of Bones’. Since then, he has presented a wide range of science and wildlife documentaries and series, including ‘Secrets of Skin’ (2019) and ‘Baby Chimp Rescue’ (2020). He has worked alongside Prof Alice Roberts, presenting ‘The Day the Dinosaurs Died’ (2017), and with Prof Danielle George in the series ‘Hyper-evolution: the Rise of Robots’ (2017). He also co-presented ‘Attenborough and the Giant Dinosaur’ (2016) and ‘Attenborough and the Mammoth Graveyard’ (2021) alongside Sir David Attenborough.
Across radio and other digital audio platforms, Ben has fronted various series and stand-alone documentaries, including ‘A Grown-Up Guide to Dinosaurs’ and ‘A Grown-Up Guide to Oceans’ (both for Audible Original), and a whole host of BBC Radio 4 projects, including ‘Super Senses’, ‘Bone Stories’, and ‘The Human Hive’, alongside three series of the hugely successful anatomy series ‘Wild Inside’ with veterinarian and broadcaster Dr Jess French. He has also been featured on ‘A Life Scientific’ and has guest presented on ‘BBC Inside Science’.
Ben grew up on the Norfolk coast and, from a very early age, was fascinated by the natural world, splitting a love for local wildlife with a desire to work in tropical biology, also. Ben is an accomplished field biologist and over the last twenty years has been fortunate enough to focus his work on primates, living and working in Uganda, Madagascar, Gabon, Liberia, Cameroon, with chimpanzees, gorillas, and lemurs; in Indonesia, working with critically-endangered Sumatran orangutans; and across various Caribbean islands researching introduced green monkeys. Additionally, his work has included investigating archaeological animal remains in Chinese Imperial tombs, assisting in anatomical assessments of stranded sperm whales, and excavating some of the largest dinosaur remains ever discovered, in Argentina.
Ben is a prolific author, and loves writing for children and young adults, to “try and help them understand concepts in science, and nurture a love for the natural world around them.” He has written about his work with great apes in ‘The chimpanzee and me’ and has written two eight-part, non-fiction series; ‘Ultimate Dinosaurs’ (‘Tyrannosaurus rex’, ‘Spinosaurus’, ‘Velociraptor’, ‘Diplodocus’, ‘Triceratops’, ‘Stegosaurus’, ‘Ankylosaurus’, and ‘Microraptor’), and ‘Extinct – the story of life on Earth’ (‘Hallucigenia’, ‘Dunkleosteus’, ‘Trilobite’, ‘Lisowicia’, ‘Tyrannosaurus rex’, ‘Megalodon’, ‘Thylacine’, and ‘Hainan gibbon’). Bens’ first kids’ fiction series, called ‘The Adventures of a dog called Jack-Jack’ features his very own dog, who grew up in Africa helping orphaned chimpanzees, but now seems to prefer coffee shops and croissants.
Ben represents numerous charities close to his heart, in a range of different capacities. He is Patron for the British Hen Welfare Trust, a Patron for Humanists UK, President for the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists Society, Vice President for the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, a Patron for the Natural Sciences Collections Association (NatSCA), Ambassador for the Marine Conservation Society, Patron for the Youth STEMM Award, and a Patron for the Norwich Science Festival.
Ben is an experienced public speaker and has appeared at numerous festivals (such as the Hay Literary Festival and the Edinburgh Fringe), has hosted different charity events, and has given various corporate talks.
Ben is a keen trail and ultra-marathon runner, but still enjoys a good Park Run and a slow dog walk near his Norfolk home, too.
