Year of Honorary Fellowship, 2011
Peter Smithers was an entomologist / ecologist at the University of Plymouth from 1973 until 2013 when he retired, becoming an associate research fellow.
His main research was on the biology of cave spiders but he has also worked on other aspects of spider ecology and distribution.
He also has a keen interest in insects as food and feed, seeing this area of endeavour as part of the solution to feeding a growing world population and also as a way to reduce the environmental impacts of intensive farming. In pursuit of these goals he set up the Insects as Food and Feed SIG in 2014 which now attracts a broad audience from across this emerging industry.
He has always been fascinated by the arts and as a result has facilitated a number of science arts collaborations which focus on insect biology. These include, puppet shows, contemporary dance, opera and exhibitions of paintings and photography. An interest that he pursues to this day.
He has been involved with the society since the early 1990’s, sitting on the societies council, editing Antenna from 2005 to 2017 and been the SW region honorary secretary from 2001 to the present day.
