Professor Turi King is Director of the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath, where her work combines genetics with archaeology, history and geography. Her PhD research in genetics at Leicester on a Wellcome Trust Prize Studentship resulted in an award-winning thesis examining the link between British hereditary surnames and the Y chromosome.

She is best known for her work in cracking one of the biggest forensic DNA cases in history during the exhumation and reburial of Richard III of England. As well as leading the international research team who identified his DNA remains, Turi has also advised on the case of Mary Jane Kelly (the last victim of Jack the Ripper) and led the project on sequencing Hitler’s genome. She has received awards for her public engagement, and co-presented three series of BBC’s DNA Family Secrets as well as hosting and contributing to various podcasts, on her own channel on Podbean and for the likes of Audible and the BBC.

Her book, The Secrets of Our DNA, was published by Doubleday in May 2026.