Jorge Soberon obtained a B.Sc. (1977) and a M.Sc. (1979) degrees from the National University of Mexico. He obtained his Ph.D. from Imperial College, University of London, in 1982. From 1983 to 2005 he was a Researcher at the Institute of Ecology, National University of Mexico. In 2005, he moved to the University of Kansas. He is now a University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology of the University of Kansas and Director of the Biodiversity Institute in the same university.
He has published more than 150 scientific papers, chapters, books, and science popularization articles, and his work has been cited more than 38,000 times (Google Scholar). In 2015 and 2016, he was in the top 1% most-cited ecologists in the world. He works on theoretical population ecology, conservation biology, and informatics and policy for biodiversity.
From 1992 to 2005 he was the Executive Secretary of the federal-level Mexican Biodiversity Agency (CONABIO). As such he was directly involved in national-level and international policy decision-making about biodiversity. He served, or serves, as a board member of national and international organizations, like Nature Serve, Pronatura, the Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel of the Global Environment Fund, the Scientific Advisory Council of the World Conservation Monitoring Centre, the Scientific Advisory Council of The Nature Conservancy, the Advisory Board of the National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian) in Washington, and many Mexican institutions and programs.