Rate My Professor Ludovic Dutoit

Dr. Ludovic Dutoit is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Zoology at the University of Otago, New Zealand, within the Division of Sciences. He obtained his PhD in Evolutionary Genetics from Uppsala University, Sweden, in 2017. Prior to his lecturing role, he served as a research fellow and bioinformatician at the University of Otago. Dutoit's research specializes in evolutionary genomics, utilizing population genomics, transcriptomics, and environmental DNA (eDNA) to address questions in ecology and evolution. His work examines genomic signatures of sexual conflict, the speciation process, and evolutionary forces shaping genomic variation, with applications extending to conservation biology, particularly for New Zealand's endemic species.

Dutoit teaches courses including ZOOL424 Conservation Genomics, ZOOL316 Biological Data Analysis and Computing, ZOOL221 Animal Designs for Living, and GENE312 Evolutionary Genetics, and organizes data analysis workshops. His publications feature in leading journals such as Molecular Ecology, Evolution, Marine Biology, and Science. Key works include 'Genomic architecture of inbreeding depression associated with hatching failure in an endangered parrot' (Molecular Ecology, 2026), 'Endoparasite communities of New Zealand penguins differ over time and among species' (Marine Biology, 2025), 'Leveraging synteny to generate reference genomes for conservation: Assembling the genomes of Hector's and Māui dolphins' (Molecular Ecology Resources, 2025), 'Predicting the prevalence of genetic trade-offs among adaptive substitutions' (Evolution, 2025), 'Human-driven evolution of color in a stonefly mimic' (Science, 2024), 'First genomic snapshots of recolonising lineages following a devastating earthquake' (Ecology and Evolution, 2024), and 'Receding ice drove parallel expansions in Southern Ocean penguins' (PNAS, 2019). With over 1,600 citations, his contributions have advanced understanding in evolutionary biology and conservation genomics. In 2023, as an early-career researcher, he was awarded a Marsden Fast-Start grant by the Royal Society Te Apārangi for 'Harnessing the power of hybrids to resolve the role of gene expression in evolution'.