Prof. Dr Bernhard Misof is an evolutionary biologist and biodiversity researcher based in Bonn, Germany. Bernhard Misof is the Director General of the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB), which includes the Museum Koenig Bonn and the Museum of Nature Hamburg. And holds the Chair of “Special Zoology” at the University of Bonn.

Originally from Austria, he earned his Ph.D. (Doctor rerum naturalium) from the University of Vienna in 1995. After postdoctoral work including fellowships (Schrödinger, Humboldt) and a stint at Yale University, he completed his habilitation at the University of Bonn in 2002.

From 2008 to 2010, he led the Entomology Department at the Biozentrum Grindel & Zoological Museum in Hamburg and was the spokesperson for the Zoological Museum at the University of Hamburg. In 2010, he returned to Bonn to lead the newly founded Center for Molecular Biodiversity Research (zmb) and served as Deputy Director of the Leibniz Institute.

His research interests are broad but focus especially on molecular biodiversity: molecular systematics, evolutionary genomics, phylogenomics, speciation, and the evolution of hexapods (insects and their kin). He has led and been involved in major international projects such as 1KITE (1,000 Insect Transcriptome Evolution) and the Barcode of Life (Cabol) initiatives. He is active in combining empirical, bioinformatics, and theoretical approaches to understand how biodiversity has evolved and how it responds to change.