Professor Michael Bruford, an extraordinary professor in the Department of Biochemistry, Genetics, and Microbiology in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences (NAS) at the University of Pretoria (UP), recently received his A2-rating from the National Research Foundation (NRF).

NAS now boast eight NRF A-rated researchers.

Prof Bruford is a professor of biodiversity in the School of Biosciences and Dean for Environmental Sustainability at Cardiff University in Wales, UK. Prof Bruford co-chairs the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Conservation Genetics Specialist Group and is the academic lead for the Welsh Government’s Biodiversity and Ecosystem Evidence Research Needs Programme.

He serves on the editorial boards of Conservation Genetics Resources, Frontiers in Genetics, Integrative Zoology, and Endangered Species Research. He was a founding editor for the journal Animal Conservation and served as Editor-in-Chief of Heredity between 2012 and 2016.

His research concerns understanding genomic diversity and adaptation in threatened species and using the data to model and predict their future pathways in the face of climate change. He is a strong advocate of biodiversity biobanking and is director of the Frozen Ark, a globally endangered species biobank charity, and CryoArks, the UK’s zoological biobank.

In 2020, Prof Bruford was elected a member of the Academia Europaea, received the Marsh Award for Conservation Biology, and was awarded the Chimelong Medal of the China Zoological Society.