Vincent Smith

I am a Senior Research Scientist at the Natural History Museum London, applying computer technologies and the Web to the study of taxonomy and biodiversity. I lead the Museum’s science informatics activities. These include new approaches to digitising some of the Museum’s 80 million specimens and the development of Virtual Research Environments supporting almost 1,000 taxonomic research communities worldwide. As an entomologist I specialise on the coevolution of parasitic lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) and their avian and mammalian hosts. My recent taxonomic studies include work on the evolutionary history of Galapagos mockingbird lice, dating the diversification of lice across mammals and birds, and the origins and evolution of human lice.