Richard said “I am very privileged and honoured to announce that I have been elected as a Fellow of The Linnean Society (FLS).

The fellowship of the society requires nomination by the existing fellows, and election by a minimum of two-thirds of those electors voting.

Many thanks to the fellows of the society for nominating my name and selecting me for the position.”

The Linnean Society of London (in the name of Carolus Linnæus, the father of binomial nomenclature) established in 1788 is one of the biggest societies of England, focusing on natural history, environment, evolution, biodiversity, and ecology. The society is the oldest extant biological society in the world and is historically important as the venue for the first public presentation of the theory of evolution by Natural Selection, a joint presentation of paper by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, on 1 July 1858.

The patron of the society was Queen Elizabeth II. Honorary members include King Charles III of Great Britain, Emeritus Emperor Akihito of Japan, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden (both of the latter have active interests in natural history), and the eminent naturalist and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough.

The society has numbered many prominent scientists amongst the Fellow of the Linnean Society (FLS), including Robert Brown (who discovered Brownian motion In 1854), Charles Darwin, Thomas Huxley, physician Edward Jenner (pioneer of vaccination), the Arctic explorers Sir John Franklin and Sir James Clark Ross, Lord Aberdeen (Prime Minister of Britain, 1852-1855).