He has a PhD in Botany and an MSc in Conservation and Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources, from the University of Birmingham UK. He worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (1995-1997) as a molecular systematist and has specialist knowledge of the grass family. His research interests have recently turned to fungal endophytes of grasses and barley in particular. He is an associate editor for the Journal 'Plant Ecology and Diversity' and was associate editor of 'Journal of Plant Research' until recently. He is currently part of a major FP7 KBBE collaborative project called GrassMargins. Publications can be found at his Google Scholar page.