His research focuses on the conservation and use of genetic resources. He does research on the role of socio-cultural and agroclimatic factors in shaping the genetic diversity in crops and the role of genetic resources and seed systems for food security and adaptation to climate change. He served for eight years as the Coordinator of Operation and Management for the Svalbard Global Seed Vault – a storage facility to back-up genetic diversity held in genebank collections of crop diversity worldwide.