Sarah E. Randolph
Professor of Parasite Ecology, Department of Zoology, Oxford, UK
and Tutorial Fellow in Biological Sciences at Christ Church, Oxford, UK
 
Education:
BA Hons, 1st class, Zoology, St Anne’s College, Oxford University 1970.
PhD, Tick ecology, King’s College London University, 1973
 
Career:
In 1974, I returned to a fixed-term teaching post in the Department of Zoology, Oxford, where I met my husband.  Research and teaching, alongside marriage and three children, have been supported by Research Fellowships from Leverhulme Trust, Royal Society, Wellcome Trust, Natural Environment Research Council and, since 2007, the University. 
 
Research interests:
The extreme contrast of the two principal subjects of my research, ticks (1970-date) and tsetse (c.1976-1992), has given me a rich perspective on vector-borne diseases.  My objectives have always been to understand the real biological complexity of these systems, first empirically in both the field and laboratory, and then capturing the essence of it in quantitative language to explain, and thereby predict, broad-scale patterns in the spatially and temporally variable risk of infection.  Over the past decade, I have found quantitative explanations for the persistence of tick-borne encephalitis virus in nature, its focal distribution, and the recent marked, but highly variable, upsurge in incidence across Europe.  I have recently added a new strand, human socio-economic factors, to explanations for the epidemiology of tick-borne diseases.
 
Publications:
Web of Knowledge lists my modest output currently as 106 papers, a slight under-estimate and not including the dozen or so books chapters, edited book and weak attempts to engage the public in the understanding of science.