Simon Harvey

Professor Simon Harvey BSc (Hons), PhD, FHEA

Associate Dean – Research and Knowledge Exchange

Key details

Professor Simon C Harvey

Associate Dean – Research and Knowledge Exchange


Simon is a Professor in Evolutionary Biology and is the Associate Dean – Research and Knowledge Exchange in the Faculty of Engineering and Science. He has a BSc (Hons) degree in Zoology and a PhD in Genetics. Prior to joining the University of Greenwich, Simon worked at Canterbury Christ Church University, where he held a range of leadership positions in relation to research and knowledge exchange. He has also held posts at the University of Bristol and the University of Stirling. Simon is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Responsibilities within the university

In his role as Associate Dean – Research and Knowledge Exchange, Simon is responsible for leading Faculty processes to facilitate growth in research excellence and impact.

He supports the development and effective operation of challenge-oriented (disciplinary, multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary) research and knowledge exchange within the Faculty.

Simon represents his Faculty at a number of university level committees that provide strategic direction for research and knowledge exchange.

Research / Scholarly interests

Simon’s research seeks to apply evolutionary biology to a range of applied issues. This has involved research on stress responses in the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans, placebo effects in humans, and non-human animal embryology. Much of this work has been funded by, and undertaken in collaboration with, industry, with some work also funded by the Leverhulme Trust, the Royal Society and NERC.

Current areas of interest:

  • Embryo developmental morphokinetics;
  • Improving methods for research, development and quality control in in vitro fertilisation (IVF) practices;
  • The biology of stress responses.