“It was the idea that the scientific method could be used to challenge preconceived ideas; it was self-correcting and anti-dogmatic; it was a method that opened our eyes to the external world of phenomena and relied on human tenacity, sometimes in the face of opposition or even discrimination.”
Obituary
Tributes have been sent from across the life sciences following the death of former Royal Society of Biology (RSB) staff member Alessandro Coatti.
Alessandro, known as Ale, joined the RSB’s Science Policy team in 2017 as a science policy officer before being promoted to senior science policy officer in 2019. He led the RSB’s work on animal science and ethical research & innovation, writing submissions to numerous consultations and inquiries, organising policy events, and presenting evidence in the House of Commons on the regulation of genetic technologies.
In April, staff at the Society heard the devastating news that Ale had been murdered in Colombia. He had left the RSB at the end of 2024 to volunteer at the remote Tiputini Biodiversity Station in Ecuador and travel.
As well as being a passionate and dedicated scientist, Ale was funny, warm, intelligent, loved by everyone he worked with, and will be deeply missed by all who knew and worked with him. Those who had worked with him, representing the Wellcome Trust, Understanding Animal Research, the Home Office, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, the Science Media Centre, and other organisations, plus members of the RSB’s Animal Science Group, all sent messages paying tribute to Ale’s kind, inquisitive nature and his commitment to his work. Former colleagues from the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, where Ale worked in the department of neural systems and coding, wrote of his ‘amazing enthusiasm’ and ‘vibrant personality’.
In an article for The Biologist about his work in 2022, Ale described how enjoyed bringing together views from across the life sciences on difficult topics. “I have discovered I really like the mediation and negotiation part of the role. You have to listen to people with different views and try to understand their thoughts, what their interests are and how you can reach a consensus,” he wrote.
In 2019 he wrote how science appealed to him as a young queer person hoping for a more just and equitable society. “It was the idea that the scientific method could be used to challenge preconceived ideas; it was self-correcting and anti-dogmatic; it was a method that opened our eyes to the external world of phenomena and relied on human tenacity, sometimes in the face of opposition or even discrimination.”
The Royal Society of Biology’s thoughts and best wishes go out to Ale’s family and friends at this awful time.
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He listened to every issue, to hear all sides of a discussion, and somehow managed to achieve a consensus from seemingly divergent viewpoints – quite a talent!
He was knowledgeable, insightful and brought a warmth and humour to his role. Ale often had a mischievous twinkle in his eye before saying something that made me laugh.
I am glad to have met and talked with Ale at the Paget lecture in December, as many colleagues will have done. Ale was so excited to share his plans for his new adventure - he was really looking forward to exploring the world and finding ways to contribute to a socially just and fairer future.
The world is a poorer place without Ale, I feel that his loss has left a hole in the UK BSC Community – we have lost more than just a valued colleague, but a friend.
Ale was very passionate about his work and extremely knowledgeable.
I will always remember the support Ale gave me through my association via the RSB. I will always remember the infectious smile Ale would always bring to meetings. My thoughts are with Ale's family and all those who knew Ale. Ale will be sorely missed.
I had been meaning to tell you for about 18 months but only found the opportunity the last time we spoke to tell you that I had been learning Italian. Gracious and kind as ever, you offered to go out for a coffee on your return to the UK so I could practice. Quando miglioro, ti penserò. Condoglianze alla tua famiglia.
Knowing him for less than a year, I thought I had never managed to collect enough of our own memories and concrete mementos, and I now see him in anything that carries his attributes – which infuses all things beautiful and valuable with a touch of sadness, because the same universe that gave us Ale harbours the evil that took him away. But meeting his friends recently made me realise how much he had already shared with me – so many stories, films, plans, concerns, so much music, and the music of his voice and the sounds he’d make and the way he moved – and he felt so present, so real, so permanent, even though I couldn’t quite feel deserving of his kinship.
I see him sitting in front of me at dinner table (he’d usually reposition his chair closer, in a truly unique way that’s now forever and only his), enjoying art and culture high and low (from a Brazilian lambada hit to a Poe poem), watching me cook, a bit antsy to be helpful.
In time, we will reconnect properly with what he brought to this world: joy, kindness, beauty, generosity, intelligence, sass. I expect to eventually celebrate his life for the love and beauty it meant to us all. I will, eventually, revisit our conversations – on his upbringing, his career, Anohni and the Johnsons, Ettore Scola, science and pseudoscience, tarot, Fassbinder, Jarman, Kaoma, Roberta Flack’s ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’, fancy dress, drag art, dance, cycling, Prospect Cottage, his pets, South America (damn you, my South America…) – for the joy they brought and the life they affirmed. But for now, I guess I’m excused to see them mostly as cruel reminders of the fragility of beauty…
I wish I could embrace his parents and thank them for the job they did, the present they gave to this planet, but I’m afraid that, too, would feel like shining a light on a permanent wound. Maybe it is too much to expect us to (quoting a poem he once shared) “make an Eden of that dim lake”, but I hope we come to find it in us to celebrate how lucky we are when life gifts us, rather than the misfortune of losing something endlessly precious.
When the sky acquires the hue of his eyes, it will eventually be simply beautiful, like our beautiful friend.
