Plant evolutionary b​iologist Spencer Barrett has been elected to the US National Academy of Sciences as an International Member. Election to the Academy represents one of the highest honours awarded to a scientist worldwide and is in recognition of “distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.”

Spencer is University Professor Emeritus in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto and was former Canada Research Chair in Evolutionary Genetics. His research contributions have addressed diverse questions on evolutionary processes, with a focus on understanding the ecological and genetic mechanisms driving evolutionary transitions in plant reproductive systems and also contemporary evolution and adaptation in invasive species. Professor Barrett is an elected fellow of the Royal Societies of Canada and London and is a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has won the Flavelle Medal from the Royal Society of Canada, the Lawson Medal from the Canadian Botanical Association, and the Sewall Wright Award from the American Society of Naturalists. He has been President of the Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution, and is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B.  Spencer has published over 300 refereed articles, trained over 40 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, and has numerous past and present collaborations with researchers around the world.