Philip Wheeler

I grew up in the dull suburbs of south Manchester and spent my younger years escaping to walk and climb in the hills of Northern England. I got into ecology and wildlife conservation partly out of a desire to see the world, and I’ve been fortunate to study a variety of wildlife and ecosystems across the world from hares in the fields of North Yorkshire to tapirs in Honduras and buffaloes in the forests of Indonesia and the Philippines. Hanging around in forests has got me more and more interested in trees and I’ve now started to investigate them, especially those in urban environments. I’ve spent most of my career as a lecturer, teaching students face-to-face, so the OU has been a change of direction for me but I’ve really enjoyed the challenge. There can’t be many universities where the students are more interesting than the staff, but that’s definitely my experience at the OU.

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