Plant taxonomist, appointed as an OBE in the New Year's Honours List (2012)[1] for services to international food science.
course in the 'Conservation and Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources' (1971) followed by a Ph.D. on researching the evolution of the potato, much of it based in Peru.
[4] Then at the International Potato Center (CIP), Lima, Peru, until 1981.
Next he was at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines (1991 - 2010).
He was Head of the Genetic Resources Center at IRRI (1991 - 2001), which included responsibility for managing the International Rice Genebank Collection (IRGC), and from 2001 until he retired in 2010 he was IRRI's Director for Program Planning and Communications.