Excellence in plant and microbial science
A collation of career stories, insights and interviews with our Alumni.
Since the creation of our alumni network, we have enjoyed hearing the stories of a huge variety of people who have passed through the John Innes Centre over the years. Here we collate them for you to enjoy as well.
If you have worked or studied at the John Innes Centre you can join our alumni network.
Ruth studied at the John Innes Centre from 2009 to 2013. Her love of plant pathology has taken her career from Cereal Pathologist at RAGT to Disease Control Scientific Expert at Syngenta.
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Rachel both studied for her PhD and worked at the John Innes Centre from 2011 to 2021. While at JIC, she was also part of the Women in Wheat programme, leading to her current role as Cereal Pathologist at Limagrain.
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After working and studying at the John Innes Centre from 2014-2022, James now works at GetGenome – a charity he co-founded that delivers equitable access to genomics technology, training, and education.
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Samantha joined the John Innes Centre as a Research Assistant two decades ago, she is currently back working with us as our Interim Head of Directorate. She has played an integral role in setting up a number of initiatives and events aimed at inspiring the next generation of scientists.
Pooja joined the JIC in 2008 on the Rotation PhD programme. She now manages research partnerships for Medicago, coordinating external scientific activities, including collaborative research in academic labs and co-development projects with industrial partners.
Rachel recently completed her PhD at the John Innes Centre she is now part of the Civil Service Fast Stream.
Andrew joined the John Innes as a technician in 1987, by the time he left he had earned a PhD, discovered science to be exhilarating, fun and populated by amazing people.
Tom joined the John Innes Centre to study for a PhD in viruses and gene silencing. He now works in healthcare as the national manager for Elekta Netherlands.
Belinda is Director of Agri-Tech-E who operate at the interface of research, industry and government.
Kevin completed his PhD on leafless and semi-leafless peas, here at the John Innes Centre in the 1980s.
Kathy joined the John Innes Centre back in 1996 studying for a PhD on anticarcinogenic glucosinolates in broccoli.
Rosanne Maguire was a MSc student working with Professor Claire Domoney on the genetic diversity of the ‘stay-green’ gene. She is now studying a PhD in the Warwick University molecular breeding programme under Professor Eric Holub.
Former PhD student Mario, is now an Associate Professor of Biology at Northern New Mexico College
Dr Natalie Porter worked at the John Innes Centre as Programme Manager for the Genes in the Environment (GEN) Institute Strategic Programme (ISP). She is now the ClimateUEA Executive Officer
Stuart moved out of academia and into industry, and is now Head of R&D Partnerships and Open Innovation at Syngenta
Lucy started her PhD at the John Innes Centre in September 2006, she studied microbial genetics with Professor Mervyn Bibb. She is now Program Director at Ginkgo Bioworks, where we learn from nature to develop new organisms that replace technology with biology.
Nick enrolled as a PhD student in 1997 after a fulfilling eight-year career as a cereal breeder, focusing on Fusarium head blight in wheat with Paul Nicholson and Tony Worland as his joint supervisors. Now Nick works as a Freelance Consultant contributing to government agencies on reducing pollution in agriculture and advising DEFRA and Natural England on plant breeding and genetic approaches to reducing nitrogen inputs.