Oliver Phillips

Oliver Phillips is a Professor of Tropical Ecology at the School of Geography, University of Leeds, a position he has held since May 1995. His work centers on tropical forest ecosystems and their role in the Earth system.

His research spans Tropical Ecology, Forest Ecology, Biodiversity, and Global Change Ecology. He investigates long-term forest dynamics, carbon cycling, and biodiversity patterns in tropical forests, particularly in the Amazon basin through leadership of major international networks.

He founded and directs RAINFOR (Amazon Forest Inventory Network) and ForestPlots.net, global initiatives coordinating forest monitoring across 50+ countries. These projects track ecosystem responses to climate change and human impacts using extensive plot-based data.

Among his distinctions, he was elected Fellow of the Linnean Society in May 2025. He actively contributes as a peer reviewer for journals including New Phytologist and collaborates with researchers worldwide on forest conservation science.