Profile

I live in Edinburgh and enjoy walking and cycling around the City and surrounding countryside. Plants have been a fascination for as long as I can remember, probably because I got out into nature a lot as a child. I count myself very fortunate for this early contact with the natural world. I put my plant knowledge to practical use by foraging for wild edible plants. A particular favourite is the few-flowered leek. The bright green leaves make a super pasta sauce with a garlic kick, so not for everyone!

Inspiring and engaging people often relies on storytelling techniques. Facts and figures can be really dull and boring. I try to make plants and fungi relevant and relatable to people by showing how useful and important these organisms, that appear not to move and get easily overlooked, really are for our lives and even our survival. Of course plants and fungi do move, just really slowly. Although, if you have seen a Venus flytrap at work you will know that some plants can move at lightening speed.

How you communicate anything to people is really only limited by your own imagination, so I have used lots of different mediums of communication over the years. I think the newest and most exciting medium that I have used so far is a computer game about tree health. The player has the job of a forester who is trying to keep forests healthy, benefit forest wildlife and turn a profit. Not an easy challenge when so many new tree pests and diseases are arriving in the UK by accident due to global trade and the movement of people.

Although I trained as a scientist I don’t do research now. My day is not spent in a lab or out in the field collecting and measuring things. Instead, I have the fun of helping the scientists and horticultural staff get their stories across to the public using a wide variety of tools and media. If I am running a public event I might be checking that everything is ready to go for when my colleagues arrive and the public are let into the Garden as 10am. Alterntively, I might be working at a computer writing a blog or checking some text written by someone else for suitability and accuracy of content. Writing engaging text to tight word counts is a skill you have to develop in this job. I think what I like most about my job is the variety. All sorts of interesting ideas for public engagement come my way and sometimes you just have to step outside your comfort zone and give something new a try. If you are a creative person working in public engagement is worth considering.