The Sumner Lab Insect Research Group · UCL
Seirian Sumner

Seirian Sumner

Principal Investigator · Professor of Behavioural Ecology

Sumner Lab · UCLCurrent group

In the lab
2012–present
Contact

Email: s.sumner@ucl.ac.uk

Address: Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT

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About

Biography

My journey began with a Zoology BSc (Hons) degree at University College London. I stayed on at UCL for my PhD in the reproductive conflicts of primitively eusocial hover wasps, under the supervision of Prof Jeremy Field (now at University of Sussex). I went on to a postdoc position at the University of Copenhagen with Prof Koos Boomsma, on social parasitism in leaf-cutting ants.

Thereafter, I held a succession of independent fellowships funded by the Smithsonian Institute (STRI, Panama), the L’Oréal for Women in Science Fellowship Award from L’Oréal-UNESCO/Royal Society, RCUK, and the Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London.

I took a Senior Lectureship in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Bristol in November 2012, and moved to University College London in October 2016 as a Reader in Behavioural Ecology, where I am currently based. I became a full Professor in October 2020.

Publications

The 20 most recent of 75, updated automatically from Seirian Sumner's ORCID record, last checked 17 Sep 2026.

  • Sumner S, Cunningham-Eurich I, Sturm U (2026) In praise of parasitoids: how public engagement and citizen science can be used to improve the perceptions of an overlooked taxon. Current Opinion in Insect Science. doi: 10.1016/j.cois.2026.101553
  • Cunningham‐Eurich I, Aucock L, Walters‐Hutton B, Sumner S, Broad GR (2026) Moth traps shine a light on nocturnal parasitoid wasps: Snapshot assessment of UK diversity and distributions. Insect Conservation and Diversity. doi: 10.1111/icad.70135
  • Corbett OR, Dreier S, Lengronne T, Patalano S, Reuter M, Sumner S (2026) Compensation of labour by noncompetitive individuals mitigates costs of aggressive succession contest in a social wasp. Animal Behaviour. doi: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2026.123581
  • Bell EF, Wyatt CDR, Taylor D, Radford AN, Sumner S (2026) Limits to behavioural plasticity in tropical paper wasps. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2026.0252
  • Drinkwater R, Law G, Bellekom B, Brown RL, Symondson WO, Clare EL, Sumner S (2026) Metabarcoding of larval guts reveals diet diversity in native apex predators—the yellowjacket wasps Vespula vulgaris and Vespula germanica. Insectes Sociaux. doi: 10.1007/s00040-025-01058-6
  • Brooks Norse I, Magallón Santamaría M, Hurtado Yow J (2025) Evaluación preliminar del nivel de conocimiento comunitario de los procesos destructivos y acciones de conservación del manglar en Nuevo Colón, Sabanitas, Colón, Panamá. Revista Colegiada de Ciencia. doi: 10.48204/j.colegiada.v6n2.a7186
  • Devenish AJM, Newton RJ, Midgley JJ, Colville L, Bridle J, Sumner S (2025) Mutualistic interactions facilitate invasive species spread. Functional Ecology. doi: 10.1111/1365-2435.14688
  • Sumner S, Hurtado Yow J (2024) INFLUENCIA DEL ENTORNO. Revista Semilla del Este. doi: 10.48204/semillaeste.v4n2.5046
  • Oi CA, Brown RL, Sumner S (2024) Bee-Ing positive about wasp-negative media reporting: the opinions of scientists and their influence on the media. Insectes Sociaux. doi: 10.1007/s00040-024-00952-9
  • Taylor BA, Taylor D, Bodrug‐Schepers A, Câmara Ferreira F, Stralis‐Pavese N, Himmelbauer H, Guigó R, Reuter M, Sumner S (2024) Molecular signatures of alternative reproductive strategies in a facultatively social hover wasp. Molecular Ecology. doi: 10.1111/mec.17217
  • Manfredini F, Wurm Y, Sumner S, Leadbeater E (2023) Transcriptomic responses to location learning by honeybee dancers are partly mirrored in the brains of dance-followers. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2023.2274
  • Sumner S, Favreau E, Geist K, Toth AL, Rehan SM (2023) Molecular patterns and processes in evolving sociality: lessons from insects. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0076
  • Wyatt CDR, Bentley MA, Taylor D, Favreau E, Brock RE, Taylor BA, Bell E, Leadbeater E, Sumner S (2023) Social complexity, life-history and lineage influence the molecular basis of castes in vespid wasps. Nature Communications. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-36456-6
  • Perry JR, Sumner S, Thompson C, Hart AG (2021) ‘Citizen identification’: online learning supports highly accurate species identification for insect‐focussed citizen science. Insect Conservation and Diversity. doi: 10.1111/icad.12528
  • Jönsson GM, Broad GR, Sumner S, Isaac NJB (2021) A century of social wasp occupancy trends from natural history collections: spatiotemporal resolutions have little effect on model performance. Insect Conservation and Diversity. doi: 10.1111/icad.12494
  • Wyatt C, Bentley M, Taylor D, Favreau E, Brock R, Taylor B, Bell E, Leadbeater E, Sumner S (2021) Social complexity, life-history and lineage influence the molecular basis of caste in a major transition in evolution. Research Square. doi: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-835604/v1
  • Brock RE, Cini A, Sumner S (2021) Ecosystem services provided by aculeate wasps. Biological Reviews. doi: 10.1111/brv.12719
  • Lengronne T, Mlynski D, Patalano S, James R, Keller L, Sumner S (2021) Multi-level social organization and nest-drifting behaviour in a eusocial insect. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2021.0275
  • Kennedy P, Sumner S, Botha P, Welton NJ, Higginson AD, Radford AN (2021) Diminishing returns drive altruists to help extended family. Nature Ecology & Evolution. doi: 10.1038/s41559-020-01382-z
  • Taylor BA, Cini A, Wyatt CDR, Reuter M, Sumner S (2021) The molecular basis of socially mediated phenotypic plasticity in a eusocial paper wasp. Nature Communications. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-21095-6

Every paper, book chapter and preprint from the lab that Seirian has co-authored is listed on the Publications page.

In the media

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