Francesco Frati

Spoke Leader

Francesco Frati is Full Professor of Zoology at the Department of Life Sciences of the University of Siena where he teaches Biological Evolution, Medical Entomology and Animal Biology. After his degree in Biological Sciences and his PhD in Animal Biology (part of which was carried out at the Cornell Medical College in New York), both awarded by the University of Siena, he was a visiting postdoc at the University of Connecticut. He then returned at the University of Siena where he became Full Professor in 2010 and of which he was Rector from 2016 to 2022. He was also Head of the Department of Evolutionary Biology from 2003 to 2009. He is a member of the Board of the PhD in Life Sciences of the University of Siena and of the National PhD in Biodiversity of the University of Palermo. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Tuscany Health Ecosystem and a member of the National Academy of Entomology and of the Academy of Fisiocritici. His research interests include: insect systematics and phylogeny; the origin and evolution of Antarctic springtails (he participated in three expeditions to Antarctica); the evolution of the animal mitochondrial genome; the genomics and phylogeography of the invasive beetle Popillia japonica; mosquito monitoring in Tuscany. He has published over 130 scientific articles in international peer-reviewed journals.