Plant Sciences

Head of Division: John Brown
Deputy Head of Division: Claire Halpin
Lab Manager: Sandie Gray

Plants form the basis of life on Earth providing food to sustain human and animal life, as well as being exploited for natural products and medicine. They are essential to the atmosphere in fixing carbon and releasing oxygen. The importance of plant sciences to the world’s ecosystems is highlighted by the current concerns over climate change and fuel and food security.



The Division of Plant Sciences was established in 2007 in order to create a cohesive faculty focused on the study of plant life. Curiosity-led basic research, designed to explore and explain the mechanisms by which plants grow and develop in response to their environment, is combined with the relevant translation of our scientific activity into crop improvement, biofuel development, and the assessment of biodiversity.

With full access to the world-leading molecular research resources of the College of Life Sciences, our labs are based at the James Hutton Institute, 5km from campus. This unique partnership gives us access to state-of-the-art plant growth facilities and collaboration with a wider community of plant scientists.



This new and vibrant centre for plant science is a natural choice for the establishment and maintenance of international-quality research careers. We aim to grow through the recruitment of new PIs attracted by the combination of quality of science and quality of life that Dundee offers. We are interested in receiving applications from high quality researchers in plant sciences who are interested in relocating to Dundee. In addition, we welcome interest from individuals who have or would apply for a research fellowship to set up their laboratory in an international plant sciences centre. Please contact John Brown (j.w.s.brown@dundee.ac.uk) or June Matthew (j.matthew@dundee.ac.uk)

Group Leaders

Paul Birch
Professor of Plant Pathology
Plant pathogen interactions
John Brown
Chair of Molecular Plant Sciences and Head of the Division of Plant Sciences
Andy Flavell
Professor of Plant Genomics
Structure, evolution and biodiversity of crop plant genomes
Claire Halpin
Professor of Plant Biology and Biotechnology and Deputy Head of the Division of Plant Sciences
Manipulation of plant metabolism using reverse genetics
Piers Hemsley
Principal Investigator
Edgar Huitema
Royal Society of Edinburgh Research Fellow
Mechanisms of virulence acquisition during Phytophthora-host associations
Sarah McKim
RSE Personal Fellowship (Marie Curie)
Developmental biology of plant architecture
Gordon Simpson
Reader
RNA and Development
Robbie Waugh
Personal Chair of Crop Genomics

Associate Members

Lyn Jones
Professor of Plant Ecology
The Adaptation of Plants to Environmental Stresses
John Raven Emeritus
Emeritus Professor
Interactions among resources in the growth of phytoplankton
Janet Sprent Emeritus
Emeritus Professor