September 2007 to present: Lecturer in Evolutionary Biology, University of Hull 2005 – 2007 Postdoctoral research associate, Department of Genetics and Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge (group of Dr François Balloux) 2002 – 2005 Postdoctoral research associate, Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Switzerland (group of Prof. Nicolas Perrin) 2000 – 2002 Postdoctoral research associate, Department of Evolutionary Biology, Uppsala University, Sweden (group of Prof. Hans Ellegren) 1997 – 2000 PhD “Evolutionary genetics of domestic sheep and their wild relatives” University of East Anglia (supervised by Prof. Godfrey Hewitt) 1992 – 1996 BSc (Hons) Genetics, University of Liverpool

Dispersal and colonisation of new habitats are among the most important events in an organism’s life. I am interested in the evolutionary causes and consequences of dispersal – for example - how does geography influence dispersal, what makes certain species so successful at colonising new areas, and why is dispersal sex-biased in the majority of animal species?

I am also interested in the sex chromosomes – what factors drive their evolution and can how useful are sex-specific markers for understanding dispersal and population structure? Recent focus has been on global colonisation and local dispersal in humans and the harlequin ladybird (Harmonia axyridis) - two species that share more in common than you might think!

Elnagdy S, Majerus M, Lawson Handley LJ. (2011) The value of an egg: fitness compensation through resource reallocation in ladybirds (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) infected with male-killing bacteria. Journal of Evolutionary Biology online early. Lawson Handley LJ, Estoup A, Evans D Thomas C, Lombaert E, Facon B, Aebi A, Roy H. (2011) Ecological genetics of invasive alien species. Biocontrol 56, 409-428. Balloux F, Lawson Handley LJ, Liu H, and Manica A. (2009) Climate shaped the worldwide distribution of human mitochondrial DNA sequence variation. Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2009.0752 Lawson Handley LJ, Goudet J, Manica A, Balloux F. (2007) Going the distance: Human population genetics in a clinical world. Trends in Genetics. 23:432-439 Lawson Handley LJ, Perrin N. (2007) Advances in our understanding of mammalian sex-biased dispersal. Molecular Ecology 16:1559-1578