Inaugural Lecture: Professor Richard Mann, School of Mathematics
- Date: Tuesday 24 March 2026, 15:30 – 18:00
- Location: Electronic and Electrical Engineering
- Type: Inaugural Lecture
- Cost: Free
Join us on 24 March for the upcoming Inaugural Lecture of Richard Mann, Professor of Mathematical Ecology and Evolution in the School of Mathematics.
An inaugural lecture is a significant milestone in any academic’s career, recognising their promotion to Professor. It also offers an opportunity for our new professorial colleagues to showcase their work and innovative research with a broad audience, including members of the public, family, friends, and colleagues. This lecture is part of a Faculty-wide series that celebrates those who have joined the University to offer ever greater teaching, research, and expertise across our eight Schools.
This lecture is part of a Faculty-wide series that celebrates those who have joined the University to offer ever greater teaching, research, and expertise across our eight Schools.
About this lecture
In his inaugural lecture, “Why the Cambrian Explosion happened”, Professor Mann will look at the most dramatic event in the history of animal life: the Cambrian Explosion. He will demonstrate how a mathematical model explains this evolutionary “big bang”, and what it tells us about evolution more generally.
Starting around 540 million years ago, the Cambrian Explosion was a defining event in the history of life on earth. All the major groups of animals alive today – the phyla – emerged during the geological blink of an eye, roughly 20 million years. At least, this is what the fossil records seem to tell us. However, researchers analysing the genomes of modern species have suggested that animals originated much earlier, downgrading the Cambrian Explosion from a genuinely epochal moment to an artifact of preservation bias.
In this lecture, Professor Mann will argue to the contrary, that not only did the Cambrian Explosion really happen, but it also had to happen. Using a mathematical model of diversification and molecular evolution, he will show how large groups of organisms, such as the animals – but also including the placental mammals, modern birds and other groups – always “start with a bang”, and why this makes them look older than they really are.
About our speaker
Richard Mann is Professor of Mathematical Ecology and Evolution in the School of Mathematics. He completed his PhD at the University of Oxford in 2010, before working as a postdoc at Uppsala University, the Institute for Futures Studies in Stockholm, and ETH Zurich.
He joined the University of Leeds in 2015 as a University Academic Fellow in Data Analytics, and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2019, before becoming a Professor in 2024. He has been a Fellow of the Alan Turing Institute and currently serves as a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow. Professor Mann’s research focuses on mathematical and statistical approaches to understanding ecology and evolution. He specifically studies animal navigation, collective behaviour in human and animal groups, and historical dynamics of evolutionary diversification
Book your place
The lecture will take place in the Electrical Engineering Building at the University of Leeds, with arrival and registration from 3:30pm in the foyer, and the lecture commencing at 3:45pm in the Rhodes Lecture Theatre. This will be followed by a drinks reception in the Bragg Atrium at 4:45pm.
Booking is required to attend this event – you can do so at our dedicated ticket portal. Please book by Friday 20 March.