Max Blake

Max heads up the entomology team within Tree Health and is currently responsible for over 20 staff members within the department.

As well as providing the team with the managerial support they need to deliver world class science, he also liaises closely with Defra, the Forestry Commission, Scottish Forestry and National Resources Wales on policy and the management of invasive insect pests of trees, as well as providing Advisory and Phytosanitary support to Tree Health. He has been the scientific lead on the Ips typographus eradication programme since 2020.

His research focusses on improving holistic surveillance techniques for invasive bark beetles, improving predictions of when and where invasive species will become problematic, refining the eradication and monitoring programme for Ips typographus, and applying molecular approaches to forest entomology.