[2] He went on to study at the University of Surrey (formerly Battersea College of Technology) where he received his Bachelor of Science degree in honours chemistry in 1967 and PhD in 1971 under the supervision of Professor John Elvidge[3] for research into compounds from dinitriles and hydrazine.

Pickett led the first chemical characterizations, as novel molecular structures, of the sex related pheromones of insect vectors, of plant and human pathogens, including aphids, mosquitoes and sand flies.

For sub-Saharan agriculture, semiochemicals are released from companion plants, including into the rhizosphere, for farm use particularly in collaboration with Professor Zeyaur R. Khan at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology, Kenya.

[7] With new collaborators in chemistry and insect neurophysiology at Cardiff University, he is investigating novel molecular interactions for reducing emissions, and the capture, of greenhouse gases.

In 2008, Pickett won jointly, with James H. Tumlinson (Penn State University), and W. Joe Lewis (University of Georgia, Tifton) the Wolf Prize in Agriculture, "for their remarkable discoveries of mechanisms governing plant-insect and plant-plant interactions, their scientific contributions on chemical ecology have fostered the development of integrated pest management and significantly advanced agricultural".

Reflecting his recent appointment to Cardiff University[13] and his growing chemical research for regional development of agriculture and animal husbandry, he was elected Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales in 2020.

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