Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology
The Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology (EGI), at Oxford University in England, is an academic body that conducts research in ornithology and the general field of evolutionary ecology and conservation biology, with an emphasis on understanding organisms in natural environments.It took its name from Viscount Grey, at one time Chancellor of the University and UK Foreign Secretary, and a lifelong birdwatcher, perhaps best known as the man who remarked, on the eve of the First World War: "The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.Alexander was succeeded in 1945 by former school-teacher David Lack, one of the pioneers of population biology, who had already published The Life of the Robin.[3] Lack served as Director until his death in 1973, working with field assistants such as Denis Owen, and oversaw the growth of the EGI into an internationally known centre for research into population biology of birds.By the end of 2006, a total of 165 DPhil students had successfully defended their theses based on work carried out at the EGI; this number is at least matched by the number of postdoctoral and other research visitors who have spent time at the Institute.