Simon Ho

I am an Associate Professor and Australian Research Council QEII Fellow in the School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney. As a computational evolutionary biologist, my research interests include molecular clocks, evolutionary rates, phylogenetic methods, calibration techniques, and ancient DNA.

Until 2010, I was an Australian Postdoctoral Fellow and Lecturer at the Centre for Macroevolution and Macroecology (Research School of Biology, Australian National University). Until mid-2007, I was a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, working under the auspices of Beth Shapiro and Peter Holland. I was an Associate Researcher at Balliol College during this time.

I completed my D.Phil. degree in mid-2006 at the University of Oxford under the supervision of Andrew Rambaut, Alan Cooper, Alexei Drummond, and Richard Fortey. I was a Commonwealth Scholar and EPA Cephalosporin Scholar at Linacre College throughout my doctorate. My thesis dealt with various aspects of rate estimation, including the performance of different methods in estimating rates and divergence times among different species, as well as the roles of adaptive and stochastic processes in driving patterns of evolutionary rate variation.

Curriculum Vitae

Appointments

Academic Record

Teaching

• Teaching

Scientific Output

Scientific Publications

• Peer-reviewed scientific papers: 85
• Citations: 5451
• H-index: 35
• Complete list of publications

Presentations

• Presentations

Computer Programs

• Programs

Grants and Awards

Research Grants

• ARC Discovery Project, 2013-2015 (AU$270,000)
  Refining the timescale of human evolution and dispersal using ancient DNA
• ARC Discovery Project (QEII Research Fellowship), 2011-2015 (AU$622,336)
  Estimating evolutionary time-scales using genomic sequence data: Exploiting opportunities and meeting challenges
• ARC Discovery Project (Australian Postdoctoral Fellowship), 2008-2010 (AU$245,944)
  Analysing and modelling molecular rate variation among nuclear and mitochondrial genomes

Awards

• Early Career Award, Genetics Society of Australasia, 2011

University of Oxford

• Edward Penley Abraham Cephalosporin Scholarship, Linacre College, 2004-2006
• Domus Research Prize, Linacre College, 2004-2006
• Commonwealth Scholarship Research Grant, British Council, 2003-2006
• Commonwealth Scholarship, British Council, 2003-2006

University of Sydney

• AE and FAQ Stephens Scholarship, Australian Postgraduate Awards, 2003
• John H Elliot Memorial Prize for Best Thesis in Animal Biology, 2002
• Professor Spencer Smith-White Prize in Biology Honours, 2002
• GS Caird Scholarship in Zoology, 2001
• Haswell Prize in Biology, 2001

Professional Activities

Editorial Boards

• Biology Letters (2011-)
• Human Origins Research (2010-)
• PLoS ONE (2010-)
• Mitochondrial DNA (2008-)

Professional Services

• Reviewer, >150 papers for 39 journals, including Nature, Science, and PNAS
• A “Top Referee” for Proceedings of the Royal Society B (2012) and Biology Letters (2009)
• Reviewer for Australian Research Council and Natural Environment Research Council (UK)

University Services

• Research Committee, School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney (2011-)
• Honours Committee, School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney (2010-)
• Seminar co-organiser, School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney (2010-2011)
• Seminar co-organiser, School of Botany and Zoology, Australian National University (2009-2010)