Rate My Professor Steven Belmain

Professor Steven Belmain is Professor of Ecology in the Department of Agriculture, Health and Environment at the Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich, a position he has held since joining the institute in 1998. He earned his BA from the University of Vermont in 1990, followed by an MSc and PhD from Birkbeck College, University of London. After his undergraduate studies, Belmain served in the Peace Corps in Mali, where his scientific interests in ecology intertwined with overseas development challenges. At Greenwich, he leads the Behavioural Ecology research group and serves as Centre Leader for Sustainable Agriculture for One Health. He contributes to teaching by leading the undergraduate module in Animal Science and Environmental Physiology and supporting the MSc in Agriculture for Sustainable Development.

Belmain's research focuses on the ecology of rodents as pests in agriculture and carriers of diseases, developing ecologically based rodent management strategies that emphasize sustainable, non-chemical methods. His work encompasses One Health approaches integrating environmental factors, human behavior, zoonotic spillover, crop damage, and habitat biodiversity; transmission of zoonoses; drivers of rodent outbreaks; insect pests and agroecology including chemical ecology, behavior, ecosystem services, natural pest regulation, and botanical pesticides; rodent-borne diseases in livestock; tick-borne disease control; and farmer research networks for pest and disease management in ecologically diverse rural landscapes across Africa and Asia. Key publications include 'Human plague: An old scourge that needs new answers' (PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 2020), 'Pesticidal Plants: From Smallholder Use to Commercialisation' (editor, 2020), 'Rodent biology and ecologically based rodent management (EBRM)-25 years of progress' (2023), 'Dynamic movement patterns of commensal rodents Mastomys natalensis and Rattus rattus' (Pest Management Science, 2024), and 'Biodiversity patterns of small mammals and their natural predators' (Journal of Pest Science, 2026). His contributions supported the University of Greenwich's Queen's Anniversary Prize in 2019 for innovative pest management. In 2022, he received the Lifetime Recognition of Excellence Award in Rodent Biology from the International Society for Rodent Biology and Management. Belmain is a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society (FRES), Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), and member of the British Ecological Society. He has been appointed to the REF 2029 sub-panel for agriculture, veterinary, and food science.