"Bangor changed my life and put it onto a path that essentially meant I was paid for working on my hobby"
“What I really think characterized my time at UCNW, as it was then, was the fact that it gave me a second chance after I found out that medicine was not the career path for me. I really appreciated the first year at UCNW when I studied Biology, Psychology and Philosophy – subjects that I have found invaluable in my career and personal development. The quality of the teaching was extremely high with people like John Harper and others but there were also many other delights such as training with a Welsh international and British Lion rugby player called Tony Gray. I played cricket for the UCNW staff when we won the UW cricket trophy and the social life was great.
We had a small house in Rachub for which we paid £1,400 pounds in 1971 and driving from Rachub to Bangor gave a great view over to Ynys Mon. We had a lovely woman called Maud Williams who lived next door to us and looked after her ‘boys’. She was a cook at University Hall and brought us the left-over food for us poor students – but in those days you got a grant.
Bangor changed my life and put it onto a path that essentially meant I was paid for working on my hobby – plant ecological and agricultural science.
My career has been as a scientist in crop ecology and physiology, biological modelling and agricultural ecology. I am Emeritus Professor of Agriculture and Climate Change at the Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich and Emeritus Professor of Climate Change and Food Security at the University of Copenhagen. My main contribution to the field has been multi-disciplinary work in the response of arable crops, energy crops and complex agro-ecosystems to their environment with an emphasis on climate change, agronomy and ecosystem services. I have also contributed to several Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports since 1994. The IPCC shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. The IPCC also shared the Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity in 2022. About 25% of the Earth Sciences Division of the European Academy (including myself) have contributed to the reports of the IPCC/GIEC and thus share the awarding of the prize. I was very happy that the Gulbenkian Prize is given for Humanity. In this it complements the different subjects of the Nobel Prizes, but is given to persons or organisations that have benefited humanity.
I was made a Knight of the French Order of Agricultural Merit for my contributions to agriculture and the following year I was delighted to return to Bangor University to receive an Honorary Fellowship for services to climate science. I was nominated for this honour by Jocelyn Ridley (nee Cutting, Psychology 1972), who I met in Bangor as a student and is still a good friend.
My latest paper is an international comparison of the Covid pandemic in European countries, using some of the modelling equations and techniques I learned 45 years ago during my PhD with John L Harper – a true circle of education.”