Bob is a New Zealand native recently retired as Principal Scientific Officer from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. While at Kew he was in charge of several projects in Papua New Guinea and now, far from being retired, he has transferred his projects to BRIT (beginning 2006). Bob has worked for 40 years on the vegetation and flora of New Guinea, 22 years of which have been in residence in PNG, and he still spends most of the year there.
He has published 5 books and several teaching manuals in addition to about 150 papers mainly on New Guinea, and he was leader of the Botany/Ecology groups for the Ecological Needs Assessment in both PNG and Papua. His taxonomic expertise is wide and encompasses a special interest in tree ferns, which are diverse in New Guinea.
