Richard A. Nichols

For persons of a similar name, see Richard Nichols (disambiguation).

Richard Alan Nichols FLS is a British evolutionary biologist and Professor of Evolutionary Genetics at Queen Mary University of London.^[2] He is known for the Balding–Nichols model^[3] and the Beaumont and Nichols method for detecting natural selection.^[4] He developed statistical methods to allow the accurate use of DNA fingerprinting in criminal justice.^[5] He co-led a ground-breaking study that detected natural selection acting on ash dieback resistance, a highly polygenic trait.^[6]

Richard Nichols
Alma mater	University College London University of East Anglia (PhD)
Known for	Balding–Nichols model
Scientific career
Institutions	Queen Mary University of London
Thesis	The ecological genetics of a hybrid zone in an alpine grasshopper (Podisma pedestris) (1984)
Doctoral advisor	Godfrey Hewitt[1]

Richard Nichols was Editor-in-Chief of Heredity (journal) from 2004 to 2009. He was succeeded by Roger Butlin.

He graduated with a first-class degree in zoology from University College London in 1981 and completed his PhD at the University of East Anglia in 1984 under the supervision of Godfrey Hewitt.^[1]

Selected publications

• Beaumont & Nichols (1996) Evaluating loci for use in the genetic analysis of population structure^[4]
• Balding & Nichols (1995) A method for quantifying differentiation between populations at multi-allelic loci and its implications for investigating identity and paternity^[3]
• Balding & Nichols (1994) DNA profile match probability calculation: how to allow for population stratification, relatedness, database selection and single bands^[5]
• Byrne & Nichols (1999) Culex pipiens in London underground tunnels: differentiation between surface and subterranean populations^[7]
• Groombridge, Jones, Bruford & Nichols (2000) Ghost alleles of the Mauritius kestrel ^[8]
• Metheringham, Plumb, Flynn, Stocks, Kelly, Nemesio Gorriz, Grieve, Moat, Lines, Buggs & Nichols. Rapid polygenic adaptation in a wild population of ash trees under a novel fungal epidemic^[6]