History

This section is intended to give you some idea of what I did before I came to Oxford Brookes University.

EDUCATION:

My high school was Bishop Vesey's Grammar School, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, U.K. (Oct. 1967-July 1974). This "official" link tends to change fairly frequently, and the latest one does not seem to work in Netscape! MUCH more fun is the unofficial http://www.bishopvesey.co.uk/ site which has lots of old photos and anecdotes from the time I was there- I knew many of the teachers and pupils mentioned, and if you search around long enough you can even find a photo of me (I will not tell you where though!). If you were at BVGS you will also find some of your old friends and how to contact them.

G.C.E. examination passes :- 10 O-levels, 4 A-levels.

School of Biological Sciences, University of Wales Swansea, U.K. (Oct. 1974-Nov. 1980).

First Degree: Attended courses in Botany, Biochemistry & Chemistry

Awarded B.Sc. (Hons) Botany Class IIi (1977).

Florence Mockeridge Prize in Botany (1977).

Details of Higher Degree: Sponsored by SERC and supervised by Dr. H. Öpik and Dr. S.J. Wainwright of the Department of Botany and Microbiology. It involved an investigation of salt tolerance in the grass, Agrostis stolonifera. I was also joint author of two publications concerning the indiscriminate dumping of salt piles under roadside trees.

     Awarded Ph.D. (1982): "Salt tolerance and subcellular localization of chloride ions in Agrostis stolonifera L." (Thesis examined by Prof. J.A. Lee, University of Manchester, U.K.).

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY:

School of Biological Sciences, University of Wales Bangor, Gwynedd, U.K. (Dec. 1980-Oct. 1985).

     I worked on an AFRC research assistantship in the School of Plant Biology under Dr. D.W. Parry. The project involved an investigation of silica deposition in higher plants. I studied the possibility that biogenic silica might be involved in the aetiology of cancer. Work aimed at elucidating the mechanism of silica deposition was also carried out.

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. (Nov. 1985- Dec. 1986).

     I held a Golda Meir fellowship in the Department of Botany, working under Prof. A.M. Mayer. If you have Acrobat Reader installed you can see the life story of this remarkable man at Prof. Mayer. The work involved an investigation of the physiology and ultrastructure of cultured pea roots grown under saline conditions, a study of the effects of temperature on the ultrastructure of germinating pea radicles, and the development of a cytochemical technique to locate the enzyme laccase at the subcellular level in the fungus, Botrytis cinerea.

York University, Toronto, Canada (Jan. 1987- Dec. 1987).

     I held an NSERC research fellowship in the Department of Biology, working under Prof. A.G. Sangster. This continued our studies on silica in higher plants, using freezing techniques to locate soluble ions and silicon.

University of Birmingham, U.K. (Jan. 1988 - Aug. 1989).

     I worked under Dr. D.A. Wilkins in the School of Biological Sciences, on an EC sponsored investigation. I studied the effects of aluminium on forest trees, and whether the presence of mycorrhizal fungi ameliorates aluminium toxicity.

And then I joined Oxford Brookes University (then Oxford Polytechnic) in September 1989, and I have been here ever since! For thirteen years I was involved in teaching, research and administration, but in September 2002 I decided to concentrate on the first two, and I dropped administration. A brief summary of my administrative work can be found at Administration.