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Former OEB Darwin Fellow Toby Kiers Wins Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement

January 14, 2026 Careers

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Toby Kiers
Toby Kiers. Image Credit: Tomas Munita.

Toby Kiers, PhD, a former Darwin Fellow in the College of Natural Sciences's Organismic and Evolutionary Biology graduate program and current professor at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, has been selected to receive the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, administered by the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. 

Kiers's research "has fundamentally advanced understanding of the living systems beneath our feet," and this prize recognizes her work in "revealing the critical role of underground ecosystems in sustaining biodiversity, ecosystem resilience, and planetary health, and for translating scientific discovery into global environmental action."

Kiers is also the co-founder of the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN), a global initiative dedicated to mapping, protecting, and advocating for underground biodiversity, and ensuring that such life is recognized in conservation and climate policy.

Click here to learn more about Kiers's work and the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement.

Article posted in Careers for Public , Faculty , Current students , and Prospective students

Related programs

  • Organismic and Evolutionary Biology

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