Environment & Nature
Around the World in 80 Plants and its companion volume Around the World in 80 Trees, continue to be gratifyingly popular and are now available worldwide, in hardback and paperback and in many languages. There are also jigsaws based on the designs, also available worldwide, with the booklet inside also translated. I am presently writing a book to be published by Magic Cat for children about the things that are made from plants.
I am a member of the Council of Ambassadors of the WWF and of The Woodland Trust, which plants, protects and lobbies for trees. I am on the ‘syndic’, or Board, of Cambridge University Botanic Garden; they do scientific interpretation brilliantly and are a fabulous resource for plant scientists. I have chaired or co-chaired various symposia, given various keynote speeches (eg International Plant Health Conference, Westminster, and Oxford University Botanic Garden). Until recently, I was on the Board of the wonderful Eden Project, in Cornwall, UK.
Technology
I’m on the board of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, (which has sold >50 million computers for education and industry and trains young people to program). We recently floated our trading arm on the London Stock Exchnage. Previously, I was on the Board of the Internet Watch Foundation (which works internationally with law-enforcement to curb the production, distribution and consumption of child sexual abuse imagery). I am an investor, adviser or non-exec with various tech start-ups. I have previously chaired the judging for the Stationers’ Company Innovation Excellence Awards and was a member of the Machine Intelligence Ethics Steering Committee of the UK Digital Catapult.
Education
I am an Honorary Professor of Public Understanding of Science at the Birmingham Institute for Forest Research (BIFoR) in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Birmingham. I was Chair of Ravensbourne University London, a technology-focused creative arts and design college in Greenwich, London, and was also for 15 years a Visiting Industrial Professor in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Bristol, specialising in science misconceptions. I chair the H.H. Wingate Foundation, which funds various education, development and cultural activities.
Talks & Events
I am a frequent public speaker, recently mostly on science engagement and on plants, trees and environment – topics related to my books, or occasionally on governance for non-profit organisations. You can find links to my TED talks, various podcasts and large festivals here.
Strategy Consulting
With my business partner Dominic Tinley, I am co-director of Thoughtsmith Ltd. We consult with large public bodies, helping them to commission sustainable services that their audiences will learn from and find entertaining, and that can even generate income too! The company also advises universities on enhancing the public impact of their research. Here’s a piece in The Guardian about us.
Chairing
In addition to my institutional chairing activities, I frequently chair events, both live and via zoom, such as global symposia for the Crop Trust, on gene banking and for various other non-profit organisations.