Research Interests

• Crop Physiology
• Plant Stress
• Barley for healthy food
• beta-glucans
• Plant Breeding
• Traffic and tilllage systems

Scientific Inspiration

Martin Wolfe ‘The farmers’ Darwin’: used the power of evolution to help farmers bred their own resilient crops.

Nikolai Vavilov: A courageous scientist in very dark times (Soviet Union under Stalin), plant-hunting Indiana Jones and founding father of our understanding and wonder of crop diversity.

Norman Borlaug: founder of the Green Revolution with a determination to apply science – ‘take it to the farmer’.

Supervision Style

In three words or phrases: outcome-oriented, supportive, collaborative

Provision of Teaching

I prefer to take responsibility for your technical training at first, leading to more independence later.

Progression Monitoring and Management

I will set out my expectations of your progression on a weekly/monthly basis. If these progression criteria are not met we will always discuss a plan of action together.

Communication

Outside of organised meetings, I have an open-door policy during office hours. If I’m teaching, I will try to respond to email or Teams messages within a couple of days. I avoid emailing students in evenings or weekends to encourage a work-life balance.

PhD Students can expect scheduled meetings with me:

These meetings will be a mixture of face to face and video chat or telephone, and I am usually contactable for an instant response every working day but have a full undergraduate teaching workload.

Working Pattern

Certain tasks in my lab need to occur at set times, and students need to be able to commit to a rota/timetable shared with other members of the team.

Notice Period for Feedback

I need at least 2 week’s notice to provide feedback on written work of up to 5000 words.