Welcome!

Identifing orchid species in monsoon forest, Sikkim

“One of the UK’s most exciting young botanists”
Simon Pugh-Jones, Writhlington School, UK

Educated at the Universities of Cambridge, Reading and East Anglia, I am interested in taxonomy and systematics of Orchidaceae and Arecaceae, capacity building, international collaboration, education, and practical conservation.

In 2008 I completed my PhD on the phylogenetics and conservation of the genus Vanda (Orchidaceae), and I have spent time in Sikkim, Indonesia, Costa Rica, Florida, and South Africa, studying orchids and speaking to a variety of audiences, both professional, amateur, horticultural, scientific, and hobbyist.

In April 2009, I had the pleasure of accompanying the Writhlington School Orchid Project expedition to Sikkim as a specialist advisor, working with local schools and studying orchid species in the wild and in cultivation, and returned in March 2010 with a group of orchid enthusiasts for Sikkim’s first ‘orchid ecotour’. In November 2009 I was invited to present at the Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) Education Congress in Durban Botanic Gardens, and took two students from the school with me to run two practical workshops on orchid micropropagation for conference delegates. In October 2011, I will be accompanying another group of students on a trip to Laos as part of an ongoing community orchid conservation project which the school helped to initiate.

I am currently Assistant Botanist in the Palms and Pandans team in the Herbarium at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, having spent a year and a half as the Science Assistant to the Head of Science Policy and Coordination at Kew, and before that a year and a half working in the Conservation Biotechnology Unit (formerly known as the Micropropagation Unit) at Kew.

I have condensed my experiences into a number of talks/lectures suitable for gardening societies, orchid societies, and other interested groups. Lectures can be adapted and pitched at different educational/interest levels as required. Please see ‘Talks for your society’ for further details.