Click for RRes home page
About us
Resources
Research
Into practice
For the public
Careers
This image is chosen randomly from a collection

Bookmark and Share

Management at Rothamsted Research

Institute Director

Professor Ian Crute (see note below)

Director's Advisory Team

Institute Executive Committee

To contact any of the above by e-mail use the following format:
first-name.second-name@bbsrc.ac.uk. (For example brian.kerry@bbsrc.ac.uk)

Lawes Agricultural Trust Company Limited Board of Directors

Rothamsted Research Board of Directors

Click a board member's name for a potted biography
Link dot Professor Sir David J Read FRS (Chairman)
Link dot Professor Michael Elves DSc (Deputy Chairman)
Link dot Professor Mark Bailey
Link dot Professor Richard Bardgett
Link dot Dr Graham Birch
Link dot Dr David Brightman
Link dot Mr Philip W Chamberlain
Link dot Professor Edward C Cocking DSc, FRS
Link dot Miss Caroline Drummond
Link dot Mr Jonathan Flowers
Link dot Dr David Lawrence
Link dot Mr Paul Leonard
Link dot Professor Nick Talbot

Nicholas J. Talbot (Chairman)

Professor Talbot graduated in Microbiology from the University of Wales, Swansea and received his PhD in Molecular Genetics from the University of East Anglia. After a period of postdoctoral research at Purdue University in the USA, he moved to the University of Exeter becoming Professor of Molecular Genetics in 1999 and Head of the School of Biosciences in 2005. His research is focused on the biology of plant diseases and, in particular, determining how fungi cause some of the most significant crop diseases. He utilizes a range of cell biology, genetics and genomics approaches in his research on rice blast disease, which has been supported by the BBSRC continuously since 1994 and also received funding from the EU, the Wellcome Trust, The Leverhulme Trust, DEFRA, and the agricultural biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. He has received research fellowships from EMBO and the Nuffield Foundation. He has won the Berkeley Award from the British Mycological Society (1999), the Society for Experimental Biology President’s Medal for outstanding original research in cell biology in 2000, and was the Karling Award Lecturer of the Mycological Society of America in 2008. Professor Talbot was a member of the BBSRC Plant and Microbial Sciences Research Committee (2003-08), the Bioinformatics and Biological Resources Committee (2007-08), the EU ERA-NET Plant Genomics Panel (2008) and served on the BBSRC Review of Crop Sciences and Review of Microbial Sciences. He is currently a member of the Council of the Sainsbury Laboratory and is an editor of The Plant Cell, The New Phytologist and editorial board member of Molecular Microbiology.

Michael Elves (Deputy Chairman)

Professor Elves obtained a B.Sc in Zoology, Physiology, Chemistry and Law at the University of Nottingham, before gaining a Ph.D. in Haematology and Cytogenetics at Victoria University of Manchester, then an LL.B at the University of London. He has a number of honorary and scientific distinctions. His academic career was in the University of Manchester, the Robert Jones and Agnes Orthopaedic Hospital’s research centre and the Institute of Orthopaedics, University of London, where he was Reader in Immunology. His career in Glaxo commenced in 1978 as Head of the Immunobiology Department, becoming Director of the Mammalian Biology Division, and then Director of the Cellular Sciences Division. In 1993 he became Director of Group Scientific Affairs of Glaxo Holdings plc, then Director of Scientific and Educational Affairs of Glaxo Wellcome plc until his retirement. He was the founder Chairman of the Edward Jenner Institute for Vaccine Research, retiring from that post in 2001 and was a member of the Governing Body of the Animal Health Institute. He has held non-executive Board positions in the biotechnology sector. He is presently a Governor of the University of Hertfordshire and is a special adviser to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee. He has participated in numerous industry bodies.

Richard Bardgett

Richard Bardgett graduated from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1987 with an Honours degree in Soil and Land Resource Science, and then moved to Lancaster University where he gained his PhD in 1991.

Afterwards, he held posts at the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research and Manchester University, before returning to Lancaster University where he is now Professor of Ecology. His primary research interest is the study of plant-soil relationships in the context of nutrient cycling and plant community dynamics in natural and managed ecosystems. He has published many papers on this topic and his book 'The Biology of Soil: A Community and Ecosystem Approach' won the 2006 Marsh Ecology Book of the Year Award from the British Ecological Society. He is an Editor of the Journal of Ecology and serves on the Editorial Boards of Ecology Letters and Ecosystems, and is Chairman of the BBSRC's Agri-Food Committee and a member of the Steering Committee of the Global Mountain Biodiversity Assessment (GMBA), a cross-cutting network of the international DIVERSITAS initiative. Richard is recognised as a Highly Cited Researcher in the area of Environment/Ecology and was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 2006.

Graham Birch

Graham Birch obtained a BSc in Mining Geology from Imperial College in 1981, before gaining a PhD also from Imperial College in 1984. His career in the City has been spent mostly in stock broking and finance, sprecialising in the natural resources sector. Since 1993, he has been concentrating on asset management and he now heads the natural resources investment team at BlackRock in London. At BlackRock he is directly responsible for portfolios with investments in precious metals, base metals and agriculture. Graham Birch also owns and manages an 800 acre mixed dairy and arable farm in Dorset.

David Brightman

Dr Brightman graduated from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1977 with Honours in animal production and science. He was awarded a PhD from the University of Nottingham in 1983 in Dietary Nitrogen Requirements of Entire Male Cattle. Since 1982, he has been self employed as a farmer in a family farming partnership at Gaydon Hill farm in Warwickshire. He has always been extremely active in the NFU and was Chairman of the NFU Pesticides Working Group and a member of the NFU Technical Services Committee from 1995-2003. He became a member of the Sustainable Arable LINK Programme Management Committee in 1997 and was a Director of ARIA, subsequently Rothamsted Research Association (RRA) from 1990-2005. He was Chairman of RRA from 2001-2003. He was appointed as a BBSRC Council Member in 2003, now reappointed for a second term 2006-2009. He was a member of the Knowledge Transfer Panel reviewing all institutes for the Institute Assessment Exercise 2005 and was a member of the Sustainable Agriculture Strategy Panel, advising Council on future strategy of agricultural research and coordination of funding. He was also a member of the Crop Science Initiative Assessment panel responsible for allocation of £13m to a new programme of crop research and a member of the ACRE subgroup on wider biodiversity issues of releases to the environment.

Philip Chamberlain

Philip Chamberlain has been Managing Director of Crowmarsh Battle Farms Limited, a family farming company, since 1975. He farms 3,800 acres of combinable crops - wheat, barley, oilseed rape, peas, beans and linseed. - in the Wallingford area of south Oxfordshire. Since 1996, the farm has been a LEAF Demonstration Farm ( Linking Farming and the Environment ) and it is a participant in the Countryside Stewardship Scheme.

Edward Cocking

Professor Cocking obtained a First Class degree in Biological Chemistry and his Ph.D. at the University of Bristol. Shortly thereafter he commenced his lifelong association with the University of Nottingham, becoming in due course Dean of the Faculty of Science and, now, Director of the Centre for Crop Nitrogen Fixation. He was elected to a Fellowship of the Royal Society in 1983 and Membership of Academia Europaea in 1993. He has been a member of numerous academic and research bodies including periods as a Member of Council of AFRC, Trustee of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Member of Council of the Royal Society. Member of Council of the Royal Society. He was recently elected a Fellow of the World Innovation Foundation in recognition of his research on nitrogen fixation in cereals.

Caroline Drummond

Caroline Drummond is the Chief Executive of LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming). She has been running LEAF since it started in 1991.

She graduated in Agriculture from Seale Hayne Agricultural College in 1986, and has broad practical agricultural experience gained from both the UK and overseas. Prior to her joining LEAF, she was employed at Shuttleworth College working as an agronomy lecturer and training manager, co-ordinating and designing courses in agricultural awareness and topical agricultural matters for both farmers and non-farmers. She also worked as press officer and a fork lift truck driver instructor!

Her work takes her throughout the UK and Europe developing and promoting Integrated Farm Management through demonstration farms, the writing of technical papers and the LEAF Audit and giving talks to farmers and a broad range of organisations to encourage the further uptake of Integrated Farm Management. She has written numerous papers on sustainable farming systems and knowledge transfer.

She was Chairman for the 2005 Oxford Farming Conference Council, is a Fellow of the Royal Agricultural Societies (FRAgS) and a director for LEAF Marque. She has been on the Assured Produce Council and was a founding director of the Assured Combinable Crop Scheme. She was represented on the BSi committee for the development of the BS7750 standards and sits on various steering groups including the Voluntary Initiative. In 2003 she was recognised for her contribution as a Pioneer for the Life of the Nation by Her Majesty the Queen and has been selected as a women of achievement for the Women of the Year 2007.

She sits on the Policy Council for the CPRE is a Governor and on the School of Agriculture for the Royal Agricultural College and a Governor for the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research and Rothamsted Research. Caroline is married to a dairy farmer in Cornwall and they have a young daughter.

Jonathan Flowers

Jonathan obtained a BSc in Mathematics from Manchester University, and an MSc in Operational Research from Lancaster University, before joining NatWest Group where he undertook an MBA at London Business School. He worked in Consultancy, rising to lead the internal consultancy group, as Commercial Development Director in the Credit Card business and then as a Strategy Executive. Following a career break year and a Postgraduate Diploma in Art History at the Courtauld Institute he made a significant shift to work as Director of Culture Change at the London Borough of Lambeth, then as Deputy Chief Executive at Bedfordshire County Council, before moving to his present Partner-level role at Veredus, the senior headhunting/advisory arm of the Capita Group where he leads the Local Government team and specialises cross-sector in Chief Executive and Board appointments, and top team development. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute, the OR Society and the RSA.

David Lawrence

David Lawrence graduated in chemistry at Keble College Oxford, where he also gained his D. Phil in Chemical Pharmacology. He joined ICI Plant Protection Ltd as a biological chemist at Jealott’s Hill in 1974. He spent twelve years working both as a synthetic chemist and a plant biochemist, mostly in the search for chemical plant growth regulators. During the period 1982 to 1989 he was part of the team which led to ICI’s move into the seeds business and plant molecular biology. In Zeneca he subsequently spent time as both a project leader for insect control and manager of Exploratory Plant Sciences. He led the integration of Novartis and Zeneca R&D to form Syngenta; after a period as Head of Research he became Head of R&D responsible for Syngenta R&D, both crop protection and seeds, until his retirement in April 2009. He a member of the BBSRC Council and the UK Lead Expert Group on Food and Farming.

Paul Leonard

After graduating in Zoology from the University of Bristol, Paul Leonard moved to London University’s Imperial College of Science and Technology, where he was awarded an MSc in Applied Entomology. Following his studies, he joined the Dow Chemical Company, where he worked as an entomologist for nearly ten years. During this time, he became involved in the Insecticide Resistance Action Committee (IRAC), which he chaired for three years. In 1994, he moved to American Cyanamid, where he was appointed European Insecticide Technical Manager. During this period, he started a long and regular contact with Rothamsted Research. In 1999, he was appointed Director Regulatory Affairs. American Cyanamid was purchased by BASF In 2000, after which he set an innovative and successful "Alliance Management" function. This involved outsourcing regulatory and scientific work, to support European re-registration of a portfolio of BASF's crop protection products. In 2004 he was awarded an MBA by the Open University Business School. Today he is based in Brussels, where he represents BASF’s Agricultural Products Division. He works closely with the European Crop Protection Association, and is in regular contact with EU institutions, non-governmental organisations and leading European agricultural research institutions. In his current capacity, he is actively involved in the current and highly publicised debate relating to pesticide regulation.

David Read

Professor Read was knighted in the 2007 Queen’s Birthday Honours list. He graduated in Botany and Zoology from the University of Hull where he also obtained his Ph.D. He commenced his lifelong association with the University of Sheffield in 1963 as Junior Research Fellow, becoming Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Reader and now Professor of Plant Sciences in the Department of Animal and Plant Sciences. His special interests are soil microbial ecology and physiology, root-fungal symbioses, plant nutrition and pollution biology. He has published over 200 papers in peer reviewed journals on these topics and is the co-author of the seminal text in his specialist area of research 'Mycorrhizal Symbiosis' (Academic Press). Professor Read was elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society in 1990. Other recent Honours include Election as honorary Member of the American Mycolgical Society (2000), Award of the Francis E Clark Distinguished Lectureship on Frontiers of Soil Science by the Soil Science Society of America (2001), and Award of the Kempe Prize in Ecology, Sweden (2002). In addition to his Chairmanship of the RRes Board, he currently holds the following executive positions: Vice President and Biological Secretary of the Royal Society; Member of Council, NERC; Member of Board of Governors of the Macaulay Institute and Chairman of the Forestry Commission's Advisory Committee on Forest Research.