Professor Camille Bonneaud

Camille Bonneaud is a Professor of Evolutionary Ecology, the Director of the Environment and Sustainability Institute, and a member of the Evolution group. She is a renowned researcher with expertise in host-pathogen interactions in natural populations.

Professor Bonneaud is interested in the emergence and spread of infectious diseases across wildlife and agricultural systems, as well as in developing epidemic preparedness programmes that engage local communities to more effectively protect animals against diseases. To this end, she uses a range of model systems. For example, she investigates how a pathogen of poultry jumped and adapted to a wild North American songbird, killing millions. Additionally, she studies the factors driving the emergence of avian pox across the Galápagos archipelago, leprosy in endangered West African chimpanzees, and phocine distemper in vulnerable harbour seals of the UK. She also tests the role of herring gulls in spreading anti-microbial resistant bacteria across UK landscapes. Her multidisciplinary approach combines experimental work with molecular, immunological, and microbiological methods.