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Ben Ashby

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Associate professor, Simon Fraser University

Ben Ashby is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics and the Scientific Director of the Pacific Institute on Pathogens, Pandemics and Society (PIPPS) at Simon Fraser University (SFU) in British Columbia, Canada. He holds a Master of Mathematics (MMath) from the University of Warwick (2010) and a DPhil in Zoology from the University of Oxford (2014).

His research is interdisciplinary, spanning the fields of mathematics and biology, focusing on the interplay between the ecology and evolution of infectious diseases and their hosts. He addresses questions on a broad range of topics, from the role of genetics and the environment in evolution, to sexual selection and mating behaviour, to the evolution of sociality.

Experience

  • 2022–present
    Associate professor, Simon Fraser University
  • 2016–2022
    Research fellow, University of Bath
  • 2016–2018
    Visiting scholar, University of California, Berkeley
  • 2014–2016
    Postdoctoral research fellow, University of Exeter

Education

  • 2014 
    University of Oxford, DPhil
  • 2010 
    University of Warwick, MMath

Publications

  • 2017
    Competing species leave many potential niches unfilled, Nature Ecology & Evolution
  • 2017
    Multi-mode fluctuating selection in host-parasite coevolution, Ecology Letters
  • 2017
    Friendly foes: the evolution of host protection by a parasite, Evolution Letters
  • 2017
    The effect of extrinsic mortality on genome size evolution in prokaryotes, ISME
  • 2016
    The diversity-generating benefits of a prokaryotic adaptive immune system, Nature
  • 2015
    Population mixing promotes arms race host-parasite coevolution, Proceedings of the Royal Society B
  • 2015
    Diversity and the maintenance of sex by parasites, Journal of Evolutionary Biology
  • 2015
    Coevolution of parasite virulence and host mating strategies, PNAS
  • 2014
    Spatial structure mitigates fitness costs in host-parasite coevolution, The American Naturalist
  • 2014
    Effects of epistasis on infectivity range during host-parasite coevolution, Evolution
  • 2014
    Parasitic castration promotes coevolutionary cycling but also imposes a cost on sex, Evolution
  • 2013
    Sexually transmitted infections in polygamous mating systems, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B
  • 2013
    Pathogen selection drives nonoverlapping associations between HLA loci, PNAS

Grants and Contracts

  • 2016
    Host-parasite coevolution in complex communities
    Role:
    Principal investigator
    Funding Source:
    Natural Environment Research Council

Professional Memberships

  • Society for the Study of Evolution