I am a Research Leader for Diversity & Livelihoods at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Our research group develops plant diversity approaches to support communities in locations and economies where nutritional, income and biodiversity issues are of paramount importance. In my role, I lead research projects based in tropical developing countries, primarily in Latin America, focused on studying utilised, neglected and under-utilised plants, their main threats and conservation status, and their sustainable use. I am also interested in how climate change is affecting these plants and the related ecosystem services. My projects are interdisciplinary in approach, integrating economic botany, ethnobotany, systematics, macroevolution, biogeography, restoration, and conservation biology. I have significant experience working on the páramos and Andean ecosystems and currently lead Kew's Colombia Bio Programme, which aims to support the sustainable development of Colombia’s biodiversity resources.
