Professor Mark Blows received his PhD in Genetics from La Trobe University in 1994. He subsequently held an NSERC International Fellowship at York University and an Australian Postdoctoral Fellowship at James Cook University, before joining the University of Queensland in 1998, and subsequently was awarded two further ARC Fellowships. His major interests are in statistical genetics, with a particular focus on how genetic variance evolves, the distribution of genetic variance in high-dimensional phenotypes, and how genetic variation limits evolutionary change. In 2011, he was elected to the Australian Academy of Science.  After serving for 7 years as the Head of the School of Biological Sciences, Professor Blows was Pro-Vice Chancellor Research for the past 4 years, and is currently acting Deputy-Vice Chancellor (Research and Innovation).