Tim Birkhead

Professor Tim Birkhead has taught and researched at the University of Sheffield since 1976, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of London.

He has received numerous awards for his research, teaching and public engagement, including two from the Zoological Society of London.

He is the author of a number of books, including The Most Perfect Thing: Inside (and Outside) of a Bird’s Egg, which in 2016 won the Zoological Society of London’s Clarivate Analytics Award for Communicating Zoology to a general audience.

In March 2008, Professor Birkhead appeared with David Attenborough on ‘Attenborough’s Wonder of Eggs’, an episode of BBC Two’s Natural World.

Professor Birkhead is currently fundraising to secure the long-term study of guillemots on Skomer Island. Along with his team, he has been monitoring the birds for over forty-five years and hopes to prolong the study for another fifteen.

Watch the video below to hear from some of those who have been inspired by Professor Birkhead's book, Bird Sense: What It's Like to Be a Bird, as well as from the author himself.

Tell us your story

The collection currently consists of over 500 books.

Have you been inspired by a publication by a member of University staff?

Throughout the last year we have been canvassing staff, students and alumni to garner nominations for books by our Sheffield Academics that have inspired, motivated or informed.

Tell us your story and help shape our showcase by making a book nomination.