He was
postdoctoral researcher at
University of Cologne from 1985 to 1988. He was Research Group Leader at the Plant Breeding Institute,
University of Cambridge, from 1989 to 1990. He was Research Group Leader at the
John Innes Centre, from 1990 to 2001. With
Liam Dolan,
Nicholas Harberd,
Alison Mary Smith,
Cathie Martin,
Jonathan D. G. Jones, Robert Sablowski and Abigail Amey he is a co-author of the undergraduate textbook
Plant Biology. ==Awards and honours==