Professor Ben Garrod

Evolutionary biologist, author, and broadcaster

Professor Ben Garrod is a presenter, author, and speaker, with extensive expertise in great ape conservation and evolutionary biology.

He’s been working on the frontline of conservation for over two decades, across Africa, Asia and the Arctic, and has seen first-hand the impact of climate change on a range of species and ecosystems.

Ben spent several years in East Africa heading up a high profile chimpanzee conservation project for the renowned scientist Dr Jane Goodall. He also worked in Southeast Asia leading the education programme for an international orangutan conservation charity; he has researched animal artefacts from Imperial Chinese tombs; studied marine life in Madagascar and, for his PhD studied the introduction of monkeys across the Caribbean.

He has also led wildlife-watching tours across the Arctic Archipelago of Svalbard.   

Film work

Notable TV credits include Attenborough and the Giant Dinosaur and Attenborough and the Mammoth Graveyard with Sir David Attenborough (BBC One).

Ben has also presented on The Day the Dinosaurs Died; Baby Chimp Rescue; Red Ape: Saving the Orangutans; Winter’s Weirdest Events and The Day the Dinosaurs Died alongside Professor Alice Roberts (BBC Two). For BBC Four he co-presented Hyper Evolution: Rise of the Robots in addition to his own award-winning six-part series Secrets of Bones and Secrets of Skin. 

Audio work

Ben has broadcast across a wide range of series and programmes on both radio and Audible Original programmes. Notable BBC Radio 4 credits include three series of ‘Wild Inside’ alongside Dr Jess French, ‘Super Senses’ and ‘Bone Stories’. He has also presented ‘A Grown-up Guide to Dinosaurs’ and ‘A Grown-up Guide to Oceans’ both for Audible Original. He is a regular guest on ‘Infinite Monkey Cage’ and has hosted the flagship series ‘Inside Science’.

Speaker

In addition to Ben’s extensive lecturing commitments, as an accomplished speaker with extensive expertise, Ben is in demand from business and charities around the world.

In the UK alone, Ben has appeared at a range of conferences, festivals, and events including the Hay Literary Festival, Cheltenham Science Festival, Norwich Science Festival, Oxford Literary Festival, Shropshire Primary Outdoor Learning Conference, East of England Energy Group, Kruger Cowne Breakfast Club and for TEDx. 

Books

Ben is a prolific author. His first fiction four-part series, about the adventures of his own globe-trotting rescue dog ‘The Adventures of a Dog called Jack-Jack’ is published in 2024.

2023 saw the release of his latest series Ultimate Dinosaurs. This follows the success of Extinct, an eight-part series of books for young readers which explore the mass extinctions that shape life on earth. In 2019, Ben released The Chimpanzee and Me which reflects Ben's life-long love of chimps. In 2018, Ben released six books in the series So You Think You Know About Dinosaurs? 

Ben has also written science-based articles for The Guardian, BBC Wildlife Magazine and online articles for The Conversation.

Tours

For the past few years, Ben has performed his popular dinosaur show in theatres across the UK. He returned to the stage in Autumn 2023 with Ultimate Dinosaurs - an interactive, educational, and highly entertaining show that introduced audiences to the deadliest predators ever to have roamed the planet.

Interests

Ben is actively involved in a wide range of charities and organisations. He is a Vice-President for the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, patron for the Norwich Science Festival, patron for the Youth STEMM Awards, patron for the Natural Sciences Collections Association (NatSCA), ambassador for the Bristol Museum and Arts Gallery, ambassador for the Marine Conservation Society, and a Fellow of the Linnean Society.

Background

Ben is the Professor of Evolutionary Biology and Science Engagement at the University of East Anglia, in Norwich. He has a BSc in Animal Behaviour from Anglia Ruskin University, an MSc in Wild Animal Biology from the Royal Veterinary College, and a PhD, which looked at monkey evolution on tropical islands, with the University College London and the Zoological Society of London. 

Photos by Chris Vaughan, The Forum in Norwich, Darren Williams, Windfall productions, Karen Munro