David Hall

Biography

Professor David Hall has worked at the Natural Resources Institute and its predecessor organisations for 37 years. He was made Professor of Chemical Ecology in 1997. At the University of Greenwich he has worked as director of the Agricultural Research Centre, deputy head of the Pest Management Department and head of the Chemical Ecology Group. Professor Hall is a natural products chemist with over 37 years' experience in the isolation, identification, synthesis, formulation and field application of insect semio-chemicals and other natural products for monitoring and controlling pests and diseases of crops, livestock and humans. He has extensive short-term overseas experience in Asia, Africa and South America. Professor Hall's research is directed at reducing the use of conventional, chemical insecticides through the development of more environmentally acceptable and sustainable approaches, particularly those based on natural products such as pheromones and other semio-chemicals. His work has had major impacts on the development of bait technologies to control tsetse fly throughout Africa, and on the use of pheromones against pests of rice, cotton, coffee and cocoa in Africa and SE Asia. In Europe he has been particularly successful in developing new approaches to the management of beetle pests in pine forests and midge pests in a range of horticultural crops. This work has been carried out with an extensive network of collaborators in research institutes, universities and commercial companies throughout the world. Professor Hall is author of over 170 peer-reviewed publications and was awarded the Worshipful Company of Fruiterers' prize for research and development in 2004, and the University of Greenwich's prize for research and enterprise in 2007. He is associate editor for the Journal of Chemical Ecology and the Bulletin of Entomological Research. He also reviews projects for Defra and the BBSRC. Professor Hall is a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and an active member of the local Kent Section Committee, for which he has served as Chairman and Treasurer.

Research Interest

Professor Hall's particular interest is the identification and synthesis of natural products involved in the interaction of organisms with each other and with their surroundings. Examples are pheromones of insects, which control many aspects of their behaviour such as mating, feeding and egg-laying and are amongst the most biologically-active compounds known. Other examples are the odours of plants, animals and humans which attract or repel insects and other plant chemicals which affect the behaviour of pests or diseases. Replicating these compounds synthetically requires use of a range of analytical techniques, in order to define their precise chemical structure, and a wide repertoire of synthesis strategies. While Professor Hall's research group has particular expertise in chemical analysis and synthesis, one of its key strengths is the ability to interact with biologists in the laboratory and field, and with growers and commercial companies. In this way it can ensure the results of its research are taken forward into the field to help manage pests and diseases in an environmentally acceptable, sustainable manner.