For my first degree I read Botany at St. Catherine's College Oxford, and undertook a PhD at Edinburgh University. I carried out post-doc work in Edinburgh and then Rothamsted, before taking up a position as leader of the Plant Molecular Genetics Group at the Leicester Biocentre, and a lectureship at Leicester University (1989). I moved to a Chair in Durham in 1996.
I am an Editor of the journal New Phytologist and Chair of the Board of Trustees for the New Phytologist Foundation. I was until recently a member of BBSRC Council, the body that determines policy, priorities and strategy for BBSRC; Chair of BBSRC Appointments Board; and a member of the Defra Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE), which advises Government Ministers on GM and related issues. I am former President and Chair of Council of the Society for Experimental Biology.