Since graduating from the University of Cambridge with a degree in Natural Sciences (Botany), I have followed an academic career at the University of Oxford, working mainly on Aglaia, a genus of Indo-Malayan Australasian tropical trees. Aglaia is the largest genus in the mahogany family, with at least 120 species. My research has included more than two years of tropical field work, observations on reproductive biology (especially seed-dispersal by vertebrates), monographic classification of the entire genus Aglaia, throughout its range, flora-writing and historical biogeography. I am also an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at the Australian Tropical Herbarium, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland, an Honorary Research Associate at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and a Visiting Researcher at Queen’s Marine Laboratory, Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland.