Professor Jeyaraney Kathirithamby

Having gained her PhD from Imperial College London, Jeya Kathirithamby came to St Hugh’s with a Rhodes Visiting Fellowship in 1975. Throughout her time at Oxford, Dr Kathirithamby’s work has focused on a group of insects parasitoids known as Strepsiptera and the peculiar relationship which they develop with their hosts. She has travelled extensively to collect them and has describe several new species. Dr Kathirithamby co-authored a book on Greek Insects (Duckworth) with her husband Malcolm Davies, which discusses insects in Greek art, finger rings, coins and jewellery. Recently she co-authored a book Maria Sibylla Merian Artist, Scientist, Adventurer (Getty) on the work of the seventeenth-century naturalist, the first woman entomologist and artist. This book won the 2018 Moonbeam Books Gold Award. For more information regarding Jeya Kathirithamby’s research and publications, please see her departmental website, here.