Walter Jetz

Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Director of the Yale Center for Biodiversity and Global Change and its Max Planck-Yale Center for Biodiversity Movement and Global Change.
Walter Jetz arrived at Yale in 2009 and is a Professor in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department and in the School of the Environment. Jetz earned his DPhil from the University of Oxford in 2002 and served on the faculty of the University of California San Diego 2005-09. Jetz directs the Yale Center for Biodiversity and Global Change and its Max Planck-Yale Center for Biodiversity Movement of Global Change, an International Max Planck Center. Internationally, he served as Co-manager of the Task Force on Data and Knowledge of IPBES (Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Service), as Chair of its Task Group on Indicators and as Lead Author on the IPBES Global Assessment. He also co-chairs the Species Population Working Group of the GEO Biodiversity Observation Network, is an UNEP-WCMC Honorary Fellow and serves on the Steering Committee of the Future Earth Natural Assets Network.
Jetz integrates ecological, evolutionary, geographical, and environmental perspectives to study biodiversity dynamics in a changing world. A particular focus is the use of novel technologies and data-flows to examine the responses of biodiversity to environmental change across scales. With flagship projects such as Map of Life he combines ecology and informatics to support education, conservation, and policy-relevant decision-support. Jetz serves on the editorial boards of journals in ecology, evolution and data science and has been recognized as ISI Highly Cited Researcher in five years since 2014. He has published over 150 peer-reviewed papers and has mentored 21 postdocs and graduate students, with 17 now in tenure-track faculty or tenured academic research positions.