I graduated from Trent Polytechnic, Nottingham, in 1978 with a BSc in Applied Chemistry, and then undertook a PhD in the Department of Chemistry, University of Keele, under the supervision of Professor David Morgan, investigating pheromones in social insects. In 1981 I was appointed to a postdoctoral research position in the Organic Geochemistry Unit, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, where I worked with Professors Geoffrey Eglinton and James Maxwell, developing GC/MS and HPLC methods for investigating porphyrins in crude oils and source rocks.
My research is inspired by a lifelong fascination with the natural world and the realisation that many opportunities exist to improve our knowledge of the key systems and processes that shape both modern and ancient environments by deriving molecular information from the various biological materials that lie at their focus.