Following a
postdoctoral position examining conflict in social systems, he transferred to the University of Gloucestershire in 2005, where he is Professor of Science Communication. as one of the UK's 100 best breakthroughs for its significant impact on people's everyday lives. Research Hart co-authored on the use of low-cost thermal imaging for anti-poaching work won the 2019
Green Gown Awards in the Research with Impact category. He co-authored the
Oxford University Press textbook
Applied Ecology, described as "a cornerstone publication for all undergraduate students studying ecology", and is a co-author of
Introducing Forensic and Criminal Investigation, a textbook. He has served as
editor-in-chief of the journal
Ecological Entomology and is currently an Associate Editor of that journal. He sits on the editorial board of
The Biologist, the magazine of the Royal Society of Biology, and is an Associate Editor of
Antenna, the magazine of the Royal Entomological Society. Hart is also the founding co-editor of Instar, a magazine published by the Royal Entomological Society for children. Hart has an active involvement with large-scale
citizen science projects that include the "Flying Ant" survey, the "Spider in da House" survey and app and the "Starling Murmuration" survey with the
Royal Society of Biology. The scientific findings of these studies have been widely disseminated. In 2018 he led a team that studied, for the first time, the use of Twitter-mining in ecology, which was covered by a number of news sites. In 2017, Hart co-ran the Big Wasp Survey with
Seirian Sumner, which attracted criticism from quarters in the national press because it asked people to set up lethal wasp traps. Hart and collaborator Seirian Sumner responded to this criticism in press and media. Hart authored a piece for BBC Online News defending wasps and their ecological value as well as putting forward the scientific case for the Big Wasp Survey. Hart later went on to make a BBC Radio 4 documentary and a BBC World Service series exploring some of the issues raised. As a commentator on science-related stories, Hart has frequently appeared in the national press, often contributing to stories involving invertebrates such as ladybird invasions, spiders and ants. He has also discussed topics including the fear of spiders, the threat of tree diseases, banana disease and insect conservation. Hart has a strong interest in African conservation and has published papers that include studies of grassland and herbivore management, surveying and has been particularly active in the trophy hunting debate. He has written a number of high-profile articles on related issues, including trophy hunting, rhino poaching and the horn legalization debate, the issues of fences in conservation, misinformation in African conservation, and the economics and conservation issues of breeding of color variant antelopes in South Africa. Hart co-directs the scientific research programme of the Nkombi Volunteer Programme in
South Africa and is a trustee of the Wild Planet Trust. Following the publication of his book Life of Poo, Hart is also a frequent commentator on our relationships with bacteria, including the medical implications of gut bacteria. Hart believes science communication is about sharing science, saying that "The scientific method is our greatest intellectual achievement – it is a tool to understand ourselves and the universe. How could you not want to share that?" He co-presented BBC4's
Planet Ant: Life Inside the Colony and Royal Television Society awards. Hart captained the
University of Sheffield team Since 2011, Hart has presented BBC Radio 4 and BBC World Service documentaries on an array of topics including honey, migratory beekeeping, swarm robotics, tree diseases, gut bacteria, de-extinction, trophy hunting (in the wake of the
Cecil the Lion story), the concept of free will in biology and animal personality. In 2016, he presented documentaries for BBC Radio 4 and BBC World Service on human-induced evolutionary change, the controversy over rhino horn trade and on mosquito control. Hart presented the BBC World Service weekly science magazine programme
Science in Action for three months in 2017. In 2018, Hart wrote and presented the BBC Radio 4 documentary
Inside the Killing Jar, exploring the fact that entomologists often have to kill what they study. In 2019, following the broadcast of
Inside the Killing Jar, Hart co-authored a commentary paper on the ethics of insects in research, with a particular emphasis on ecological sampling and by-catch reduction. In 2020, he presented the documentary On the Menu for BBC Radio 4 that explored our difficult relationships with predators, including tigers, lions and wolves. This documentary developed into the series Tooth and Claw on BBC World Service. The first series broadcast in 2021, with a second and third series airing in 2022. Series 4 aired in 2023. Episodes cover the lives of predators and the people that study them.
Writing and public speaking Hart is a frequent public speaker, lecturing on topics that include social insects, citizen science and trophy hunting to schools, public audiences and special-interest groups. He has also written numerous articles for newspapers, magazines and for the BBC Science and Environment pages, including opinion pieces on migratory beekeeping, human-induced evolution, animal personality and the realities of modern-day African hunting. He has written about the complex role of gut bacteria in human immunity. In 2015, his first popular-science book was published.
The Life of Poo details our complex relationship with bacteria. bees, gut bacteria, and garden moths. He has also appeared at the Edinburgh,
Northern Ireland and
Malta Science Festivals, speaking on, amongst other things, the role of gut bacteria and the use of pheromones in communication. He has been a speaker at the New Scientist Live Event held annually in London. In 2013, he hosted the EU COST Science Night in Brussels. He also hosted the 60th anniversary celebrations of the British Society for Immunology at the Royal Society and chaired the debate 'The changing face of medical research'. In June 2022, he was the guest for an episode of
The Life Scientific recorded at the
Cheltenham Literature Festival.
Awards and honours In recognition of his academic work, Hart is a Fellow of the
Royal Entomological Society (FRES) and of the Royal Society of Biology. In 2020, Hart was elected a Trustee of the Royal Entomological Society and chairs their Outreach Committee, and in 2022 was made Vice President. In 2010, he was awarded a
National Teaching Fellowship by the
Higher Education Academy and the Society of Biology (now the Royal Society of Biology) Science Communicator of the Year award. In 2011, he delivered the Charter Lecture for the Royal Society of Biology and in 2015 he launched the University of Gloucestershire's public lecture series and delivered the AGM address for the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust. He was co-recipient of the 2023 British Ecological Society's Marsh Ecology Book of the Year prize. ==References==