I am an academic in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Aberdeen. My research area is plant ecology, and my main teaching responsibility is co-ordinating all the Masters teaching in our school (and teaching some of it).

When I did my Fellowship I was the air pollution specialist in the then Nature Conservancy Council (NCC). My Fellowship was about acid rain – the big environmental issue of the day – and specifically looked at how scientific research contributed to policy development in the United States and Canada. What became clear during my Fellowship was that the problem of acid rain would soon be eclipsed by an issue we were just becoming aware of – climate change.

Following my Fellowship I worked for a couple more years in the NCC, giving science-based advice on the implications of both acid rain and climate change for nature conservation. I then moved to Aberdeen University where I have spent 30 years doing research on the impacts of air pollutants, climate change and land management on mountain and tundra vegetation. Much of my research has been relevant to policy and I have participated in national and international review groups on pollution impacts and on conservation.