Dr Keith Bensusan joins the Academic Board as Chair of the Research and Research Degrees Committee. He has been working at the Gibraltar Botanic Gardens since 2007 and became its Director in 2011. His background is in the biological sciences and he has a broad knowledge of terrestrial natural history, most notably plants, insects and birds. His PhD, which he obtained from the University of Leeds, is in avian ecology.
In addition to his work at the Botanic Gardens, he is a member of four statutory bodies in Gibraltar: the Nature Conservancy Council, the CITES Scientific Authority, the Gibraltar Port Authority and the Development and Planning Commission. Keith’s key interests include migration ecology, the diversity, ecology and conservation of species and habitats in Gibraltar, and the succulent flora of Morocco. He also sits on the Gibraltar regional Committee for European Funding (JLAG) and is General Secretary of the Gibraltar Ornithological & Natural History Society (GONHS). He also frequently referees papers for the African Journal of Ecology and the ornithological paper Ardea and Zoology in the Middle East.