I am a tropical forest botanist researching tropical plants, especially gingers and other ground herbs.
Currently staff as the 'Zingiberales Taxonomist' at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, I am writing up several taxonomic works on gingers (in a wide sense, of the order Zingiberales). My main geographical focus is New Guinea where I have completed 10 collaborative expeditions.
Main research interests
Taxonomy and evolution of the flowering plant Order, Zingiberales, including contributions to national floras and using selected taxa as model organisms in Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) methods in understanding evolutionary history of ginger taxa as well as a tool in taxonomic decisions. I am presently preparing a monograph of the Asian ginger genus Etlingera and using an integrative approach trying to understand how this impressive diversity came about. I have a background in vegetation analyses of permanent plot data, especially on ground herbs in tropical rainforests, and maintain an interest in this field.