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Emeritus Professors

Name Details
Professor Alan Cork
  • NRI Department: Livelihoods and Institutions Department
  • Biography:

    Emeritus Professor of Bio-Rational Pest Management, and former Head of Agriculture, Health and Environment Group. Professor Cork has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers resulting from 30 years experience of research to develop and implement IPM-compatible solutions to crop-pest and disease-vector problems that affect the livelihoods of resource-poor farmers in South Asia, South America and Africa.
Phone: +44 (0)1634 88 3199
Emeritus Professor of Bio-rational Pest Management
Professor Chris Haines
  • NRI Department: Livelihoods and Institutions Department
  • Biography:

    Emeritus Professor of Post-Harvest Technology. Thirty-one years research, teaching and consultancy on ecology and management of pests of food commodities in the tropics, especially: ecology and taxonomy of insects and mites; biological control and integrated pest management; monitoring and identification of storage pests and natural enemies. Five years research and training in Indonesia; field experience elsewhere in South-East Asia, and in Africa and South America.
Phone: +44 (0)1634 88 3199
Emeritus Professor of Post-Harvest Technology
Professor Christopher Atkinson
  • NRI Department: Livelihoods and Institutions Department
  • Qualifications: BSc, PhD, MI Hort, FI Hort, FSB
  • Biography:

    Professor Christopher Atkinson joined the University of Greenwich from East Malling Research in late 2012. Previously he worked for Unilever Research Ltd, Welwyn, and for the Agriculture Food Research Council at Rothamsted Research Station, in Harpenden (1971–76) as assistant (ASO) to the analyst. After obtaining advanced City & Guilds qualifications in analytical chemistry at Hatfield Polytechnic (now the University of Hertfordshire), he read for a degree in applied biology at London University (1976–79), followed by a PhD at UNCW Bangor (1982) with Professor J.F. Farrar in the department of J.L. Harper FRS. Professor Atkinson has held postdoctoral research positions in the Department of Forestry, University of Wales (1982–84) with M.P. Denne; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Virginia, USA (1984–87) with W.E. Winner; was a visiting scholar at Stanford University, California, USA (1984–87) working with H.A. Mooney; worked in the Department of Biological Sciences, Lancaster University, UK (1987–90) and, with a NERC Research Fellowship (1990–91), worked with T.A. Mansfield FRS and W.J. Davies CBE. He moved to Horticulture Research International (HRI), East Malling as a Senior Scientific Officer in Crop Physiology (1992), working with H.G. Jones. Professor Atkinson was promoted to Principle Research Scientist in the Perennial Quality and Biotechnology, East Malling (1997) and became an Executive Member of EMR's Science Management Team (2004–12) and Head of Science (2006–11) and then Deputy Chief Executive and Senior Programme Leader, resource use and sustainable production (2011–12) working with P.J. Gregory (CEO).

    Professor Atkinson also held positions as:

    • Executive Director of East Malling Limited (2009–10)
    • Executive Director of Plant Vaccines Limited (2009–11)
    • Executive Director of Malling Limited (2010–12).

    Currently, he is Emeritus Professor of Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change, Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich. to present).
  • Selected Publications:
  • Research / Scholarly Interests:

    Professor Atkinson's research interests focus on understanding the impacts of environmental stress on the growth and development of crops, with particular expertise in perennial woody crops, such as apples and pears. His work includes studies of the influence of water on fruit growth and quality, and the impacts of chilling on flowering and cropping, and developing strategies to optimise production through understanding the processes which control fruit set and retention. The drought stress tolerance mechanisms of different crops, particularly those linked to the root behaviour of woody crops, have been extensively investigated.

    Recent work is directed at the health benefits of fruit consumption, particularly with respect to agronomic ways to enhance bioactive secondary metabolites, such as antioxidants. Research also includes non-food crops, i.e. perennial biomass crops, enhancing artemisinin production (an antimalarial) in A. annua, pharmaceutical protein production (e.g. cyanovirin) in GM tobacco and biochar sequestration impacts on agriculture. This research provides the foundation of his vision for developing ways to intensify food production using sustainable approaches which facilitate crops and growing systems which cope with climate change stress, particularly drought.

    He has also devoted time to promoting the understanding of science issues within the food production industry and with the general public.
  • Awards:
    • Member, British Ecological Society (1997 to present)
    • Member, International Society of Horticultural Science (1992 to present)
    • Member, Board of Advisors to the New Phytologist (1995–98)
    • Associate editor, Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology (1995–2004).
    • Member, Board of Reviewers of Journal of Experimental Botany (1990 to present)
    • Member, Society of Experimental Biology (1980 to present)
    • Editor, Plant Growth Regulation (2003–04)
    • Editor in Chief, Plant Growth Regulation (2004–09)
    • Visiting Member, Academic staff at Reading University (2011–16)
    • Member, Institute of Horticulture (2011–12)
    • Fellow, Society of Biology (2011 to present)
    • Fellow, Institute of Horticulture (2012 to present)
    • Reviewer for the Biotechnological and Biological Research Council (2008 to present)
    • Appointed to the BBSRC UK Pool of Experts (2011 to present).
    • Appointed to the UK BBSRC Horticulture and Potato Initiative – Steering Group and reviewer (2012 to present).
    • Member of stakeholder group for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Science and Technology in Agriculture, UK (2009 to present).
    • Reviewer for Acta Horticulturae-International Society of Horticultural Science, Annals of Botany, Biologicals, Chemical Industry and Chemical Engineering Quarterly, Environmental Science and Technology, Experimental Agriculture, Experimental and Environmental Biology, Functional Plant Biology, International Journal of Molecular Science, Journal of Experimental Botany, Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology, Malaria Journal, Planta, Plant Growth Regulation, Plant and Soil, Royal Agricultural Society of England, Tree Physiology, and other international plant journals.

    International research proposal reviewer for the following:

    • USDA–National Research Initiative, Plant Response to the Environment
    • University Grants Committee, Hong Kong
    • Invited reviewer, BBSRC Industrial Partnership Awards, 2009
    • The International Foundation for Science, 2010
    • BiodivERsA2011-83 programme, 2011
    • Swiss National Science Foundation, 2011
    • USDA, NIFA programme, 2012
    • Member of the International Atomic Energy Authority, Fruits Working Group.
    • External PhD examiner at Lancaster University, University of Reading, University of Dundee and University of Bristol.
    • Judge at the National Fruit Show (1996 to present).
Phone: +44 (0)1634 88 3199
Emeritus Professor of Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change
Professor George Rothschild
  • NRI Department: Livelihoods and Institutions Department
  • Qualifications: PhD
  • Biography:

    Professor George Rothschild is a dual British-Australian citizen with over 50 years of post-doctoral experience of research and development in low and middle income countryes with lengthy periods of residence in two South-East Asia countries, and shorter-term assignments elsewhere in 40 developing nations in Asia, Africa and Latin America. He obtained a BSc (Hons) at the University of Nottingham - UK in 1959, and a PhD and DIC from the Imperial College of Science & Technology - UK in 1962. His ‘hands-on’ research spanned the first 30 years of his career (up to 1987), mostly in insect pest behaviour and ecology, and their application in integrated pest management; this included 17 years as Chief Research Scientist and Deputy Divisional Chief at the Commonwealth Scientific &Industrial Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia, but also assignments in Asia during that time. From 1987 through 1998, Professor Rothschild held various positions including Foundation Director of the then Australian Bureau of Rural Science (BRS), CEO of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), and Director-General of the CGIAR International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). He also served for some time as the lead technical adviser to several Australian Federal Government Ministers - including the Minister for Foreign Affairs & Trade, three successive Ministers for Overseas Development, and the Minister for Primary Industries & Energy. Professor Rothschild joined NRI in 1998 on a part-time basis, assisting the then Director with resource mobilisation and policy issues, and since retirement in 2001 has worked for NRI in various projects funded by the European Commission, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and others. From 2005-2015, he was a part-time programme advisor for Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Chemical Regulatory Directorate (CRD), and is presently (2019) working in two projects in Africa and another in Myanmar. Throughout his career and up to the present he has served as Chair or Member of the governing Boards of a number of international organisations – see Awards and External Recognition section.
  • Selected Publications:

    ***Note: Most research publications ceased in 1991; remaining publications up to the present, largely conference papers and consultant reports;

    Selected research publications
    • Rothschild, G.H.L. (2014). Some personal recollections of pheromone research in the 1970s. Journal of Chemical Ecology. 40:311-312
    • Būda, V., Mäeorg, U., Karalius, V., Rothschild, G.H.L., Kolonistova, S.,Ivinskis, P. & R. Mozūraitis, R. (1993). C18 Dienes as attractants for eighteen clearwing (Sesiidae), tineid (Tineidae), and choreutid (Choreutidae) moth spp. Journal of Chemical Ecology 19: 799-813
    • Rothschild, G.H.L. & Vickers, R.A. (1991) Ecology and control of Oriental Fruit Moth. Pp 389-412. In: World Crop Pests – Tortricid Pests. Elsevier. Oxford
    • Vickers, R.A. & Rothschild, G.H.L. (1991) Use of pheromones for control of Codling Moth. Pp 339-354, In: World Crop Pests – Tortricid Pests. Elsevier. Oxford.
    • Szöcs, G, Miller L.A., Thomas, W., Vickers, R.A., Rothschild, G.H.L., Schwarz M., and Tóth, M. (1990). Compounds modifying male responsiveness to main female sex pheromone component of the currant borer, Synanthedon tipuliformis clerk (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae) under field conditions.  Journal of Chemical Ecology 16 :1289–1305
    • Rothschild, G.H.L. (1986). The Potato Moth –an adaptable pest of short-term cropping systems. Pp 144-162, In: The Ecology of Exotic Animals & Plants. John Wiley & Sons. NY
    • Vickers, R.A., Rothschild, G.H.L. and Jones, E.L. (1986). Control of the oriental fruit moth, Cydia molesta (Busck) at a district level by mating disruption with synthetic female sex pheromone. Bulletin of Entomological Research 75: 625-634.
    • Rothschild, G.H.L. (1983). Mating disruption of Lepidopterous pests: Current status and future prospects. Pp 207-228.  In: (Mitchell, E.R. Ed) Management of Insect Pests with Semiochemicals: concepts & Practice. Springer, Boston, USA.
    • Rothschild, G.H.L (1982). Suppression of mating in codling moths with synthetic sex pheromone and other compounds. In: Insect suppression with controlled release pheromone systems. Vol 2, Pp 117-134. CRC Press: Boca Raton, USA.
    • Van der Laan, P.A. and Rothschild G.H.L (1981). The Pests of Crops of Indonesia. Ichtar Baru –Van Hoeve   xix  + 701pp.
    • Rothschild, G.H.L. (1971). The biology and ecology of rice-stem borers in Sarawak (Malaysian Borneo). Journal of Applied Ecology. 8:  287-322.
    • Rothschild, G.H.L. (1970). Observations on the ecology of the rice-ear bug, Leptocorisa oratorious (F.) (Hemiptera: Alydidae) in Sarawak (Malaysian Borneo).  Journal of Applied Ecology. 7: 147-167.
    • Rothschild, G. H. L. (1966a). A study of a natural population of Conomelus anceps(Germar) (Homoptera: Delphacidae) including observations on predation using the precipitin test. Journal of Animal Ecology 35: 413–434.
    Selected consultancy reports
    • Rothschild, G. and Pillot, D. (2014). Development of a robust commercially sustainable multiple use sorghum value chain in Kenya and Tanzania. ICRISAT. Review of EC-IFAD funded CGIAR projects. Agrinatura-EEIG. European Commission.
    • Rothschild, G. and Tollens, E. (2013). Guidelines for reviewing EC-funded CGIAR Projects after the CGIAR reform in the context of the CGIAR Research Programmes (CRPs) Agrinatura-EEIG. European Commission.
    • Rothschild, G. (2012). Global Public Goods: their Role in contributing to Food Security and Poverty Reduction. Report to Directorate-General.  DevCo. European Commission.
    • Rothschild, G., Adolph, B, Tollens, E. & Mokunweye, U. (2012). Joint Review (External Program & Management Review and Mid-Term Review) of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA). FARA. Accra.
    • Rothschild, G. and Tollens, E. (2011). Guidelines for joint review missions applicable in 2011 & 2012 in the EIARD framework for the monitoring & evaluation of the CGIAR. Agrinatura-EEIG. European Commission.
    • Rothschild, G. and Egelyng, H. (2009). Rice policy and technology impact on food security and poverty eradication – AfricaRice Center.  Review of EC-IFAD funded CGIAR projects December 2009. Agrinatura-EEIG. European Commission.
    • Rothschild, G.H.L. (2007). Consultant report to Ad Hoc Executive Committee on CGIAR Reform. Restructuring of CGIAR and System priorities. September 2007. CGIAR, Washington.
    • Rothschild, G.H.L. (2003) Review of ACIAR Project: Management of rodent pests in rice-based farming systems in Southeast Asia.  ACIAR, Canberra.
    • Rothschild, G. (with ODI, CEPA, N.M. Rothschild Ltd) (2002). Rural Enterprise Technology Facility (RETF). Supporting Pro-Poor Private Sector Rural Enterprise Development. Final Report. March 2002. FCDO, London.
    • Rothschild, G. (2002). Review of Biotechnology capacity in Sub-Saharan Africa: Centres of Excellence in-country and scope for International laboratory at John Innes Centre (JIC) Commissioned – Gatsby Charitable Trust, London. September 2002.
  • Research / Scholarly Interests:

    Professor Rothschild’s disciplinary research interests are insect ecology, especially population regulatory mechanisms, and insect behaviour, particularly the role of semiochemicals in mediating reproduction. The application of both these areas of research to practical insect pest management (IPM) in horticultural and agricultural crops in the developing world as well as in Australia, represented the main body of work during his “hands-on” post-doctoral research career of ca 30 years After this period, although retaining his more specific research interests, his main roles have been in directing international research for development institutions in Australia and other parts of the world, implementing and managing programmes on a broad range of agricultural and natural resource management issues, and conducting monitoring, evaluation and impact reviews for development partners/investors including ACIAR, FCDO, European Commission, FAO, IFAD and the World Bank, Professor Rothschild has also been actively engaged in advocacy for international agricultural research for development with standing and non-standing parliamentary committees in Australia and similar committees and all-party parliamentary groups in the UK.
  • Awards:
    • Elected Fellow of the ‘Australian Academy of Technological Sciences & Engineering’. 1991.
    • Elected Honorary Fellow of the ‘Royal Entomological Society of London’. 2001.
    • Awarded Tropical Agriculture Association (TAA) ‘Development Agriculturalist of the Year.’ 2015
    • Member of Board of CGIAR ‘International Water Management Institute’ (IWMI). 2011-2017.
    • Chair of Board of CGIAR ‘Challenge Programme on Water & Food’ (CPWF). 2008-2011.
    • Member of Board of ‘Crops for the Future Research Centre’(CFFRC/CFF). 2009 to present.
    • Chair of Board of ’International Centre for Underutilised Crops’/ ‘Crops for the Future’. 2005-2009.
    • Chair of ‘European Forum on Agricultural Research for Development’ (EFARD). 2007-2010.
    • Chair of ‘UK Forum on Agricultural Research for Development’ (UKFARD). 2007-present.
    • Member of FCDO RNRRS Crop Protection Research Advisory Committee. 1999-2006.
    • Member of FCDO RNRRS Plant Sciences Research Programme Advisory Committee 2000-2006.
    • Member of Governing Board of CABI (Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International). 1992-2000.
    • International Advisory Committee for 2020 Vision (with Norman Borlaug, Robert McNamara et al.). 1995-97.
    • Member of Board of Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS). 1995-97.
    • Member of Committee of International Plant Protection Congresses. 1986-89.
    • Editorial Board (former member) of (i) Bulletin of Entomological Research; (ii) Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment; (iii) International Journal of Pest Management; (iv) Journal of Agricultural Science; (v) BioControl (previously Entomophaga); (vi) Experimental Agriculture.
    • Vice-President of Australian Entomological Society. 1984-88.
    • Member of Australian Entomological Society (present), Member of British Ecological Society (past), Ecological Society of Australia (past); Fellow (Honorary) Royal Entomological Society of London (present, and see above).
Phone: +44 (0)1634 88 3199
Emeritus Professor of International Agriculture
Professor John Porter
  • NRI Department: Livelihoods and Institutions Department
Phone: +44 (0)1634 88 3199
Emeritus Professor of Agriculture and Climate Change
Professor Keith I Tomlins Phone: +44 (0)1634 88 3460
Emeritus Professor of Food Science
Professor Raymond Coker
  • NRI Department: Livelihoods and Institutions Department
  • Qualifications: MRSC, C.Chem, PhD
  • Biography:

    Ray is Emeritus Professor of Food Safety at the Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich, and owner of Raymond Coker Consulting Limited.

    He has been involved with the international management of food & feed safety for over thirty years, specialising in the control of mycotoxins (potent fungal toxins) in food and feed throughout the globe. He has advised a variety of national and international bodies including the Food Standards Agency (UK), EU, Department for International Development, USAID, and UN agencies (including FAO, WHO & IAEA), and has led a variety of international, multidisciplinary projects.

    Ray has worked in Europe, South & S E Asia, China, Africa and North & South America.

    He founded ToxiMet Limited in 2005, in order to develop simple, affordable, accurate and robust technology (the ToxiMet System) for the accurate measurement of mycotoxins in foods & feeds, throughout the global supply chain.

    Ray established a further company, Raymond Coker Consulting Limited, in 2013.
  • Selected Publications:

    Ray has contributed over one hundred articles to learned journals, books and other specialist publications, as well as attending international conferences in Europe, Asia, Africa, North & South America as an invited lecturer. He has eight granted patents or patent pending.

    • Feed Planet (Feed Industry Specialty Magazine), November – December 2018; Mycotoxins – The silent threat to animal health & productivity, and food safety, pp 48 – 54, Parantez Publishing & Congress Ltd. (First of a series of articles.)
    • Nicholas W.Turner, Heli Bramhmbhatt, Monika Szabo-Vezse, Alessandro Poma, Raymond Coker, Sergey A.Piletsky (2015). Analytical methods for determination of mycotoxins: An update (2009–2014). Analytica Chimica Acta 901, 12-33.
    • Coker, Raymond Douglas (Bromley Kent, GB); Nagler, Martin Jesse (Chatham Kent, GB); Andreou, Michael Paul (Horsham West Sussex, GB) (2013). Apparatus and method for detection and measurement of target compounds such as a food toxin. United States Patent 8,344,334
    • Lyne Josse,  Xingmin Li, Raymond D. Coker, Campbell W. Gourlay, Ivor H. Evans (2011). Transcriptomic and phenotypic analysis of the effects of T-2 toxin on Saccharomyces cerevisiae: evidence of mitochondrial involvement. FEMS Yeast Research 11(1):133-50
    • Coker, Raymond Douglas (Bromley Kent, GB); Nagler, Martin Jesse (Chatham Kent, GB); Andreou, Michael Paul (Horsham West Sussex, GB) (2010). Device for detection and measurement of a target compound such as a food toxin. United States Patent 7,843,566
    • Elena Piletska, Kal Karim, Raymond Coker, Sergey Piletsky (2010). Development of custom polymeric materials specific for aflatoxin B1 and ochratoxin A for application with the ToxiQuant T1 sensor tool. Journal of Chromatography A 1217 (16), 2543-2547.
    • Xingmin Li, Stefan Millson, Raymond Douglas Coker, Ivor Howell Evans (2009). A sensitive bioassay for the mycotoxin aflatoxin B1, which also responds to the mycotoxins aflatoxin G1 and T-2 toxin, using engineered baker's yeast. Journal of Microbiological Methods 77, Issue 3, 285-291.
    • Xingmin Li, Stefan Millson, Raymond Douglas Coker, Ivor Howell Evans (2006). Cloning and expression of Penicillium minioluteum dextranase in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and its exploitation as a reporter in the detection of mycotoxins. Biotechnol Lett 28: 1955–1964.
    • Mamtaz Dawlatana, Raymond Douglas Coker, Martin J Nagler, Christopher P. Wild, Mohammad G. Hassan, Gerald Blunden (2002). The occurrence of mycotoxins in key commodities in Bangladesh: surveillance results from 1993 to 1995. J Nat Toxins 11(4): 379-86.
    • Ron L.A.P. Hoogenboom, Th. H. G. Polman, G E Neal, A. J. Verma, C Guyomard, J Tulliez, J P Gautier, Raymond Douglas Coker, M J Nagler,  E Heidenreich, J Delort-Laval (2001). Genotoxicity testing of extracts from aflatoxin-contaminated peanut meal, following chemical decontamination. Food Additives and Contaminants 18(4):329-41.
  • Research / Scholarly Interests:

    Ray is a natural products chemist who initially studied medicinal plants. Subsequently, he devoted the rest of his career to addressing the occurrence and control of mycotoxins in foods and feeds, throughout global supply chains, including the development of:

    • Sampling and sample preparation methods for the production of accurate analytical samples, of a variety of foods and feeds, from small batches to batches of tens of thousands of tonnes.
    • Methods (e.g. TLC, HPLC, HPTLC, ELISA, biosensor) for the quantitative analysis of mycotoxins in a wide variety of commodities.
    • Surveillance procedures for the accurate evaluation of the mycotoxin contamination of food and feeds in specific regions.
    • A commercial process for the detoxification of aflatoxin-contaminated animal feeds.
    • Biological methods (e.g. using engineered baker’s yeast) to evaluate the toxicity of a variety of mycotoxins.
    • Patented technology (ToxiMet System) for the accurate measurement of mycotoxins, by non-scientists, at factories, warehouses, docksides etc throughout the global supply chain.
    • Distributed ledger technology (e.g. blockchain), as a platform for the enhancement of the efficacy of tools employed in the management of food & feed safety systems.
    • Patented soil testing technology (Safe Soil Tester) to simply & rapidly detect contaminants on brownfield sites, prior to attempted remediation.
  • Awards:

    MIoD; FRSA; Emeritus Professor of Food Safety, University of Greenwich.
Phone: +44 (0)1634 88 3199
Emeritus Professor of Food Safety and Director of Toximet Limited