1986-1989                    BSc, Bristol University, Biochemistry

1990-1994                    DPhil, Corpus Christi College, Oxford University, Molecular Biophysics

1995-1997                    National Academy of Sciences Associateship, NASA Ames Research Center, California, Exobiology

1997-1998                    Visiting Scholarship, Dept. of Biology, Stanford University

1998-1999                    Visiting Scientist, Dept. of Plant Sciences, University of Arizona

2000-2005                    Research Scientist, British Antarctic Survey, Microbiology

2005-2011                    Professor of Geomicrobiology, Open University

2011-                           Professor of Astrobiology, University of Edinburgh

My research group is interested in astrobiology and microbiology. Our particular research focus lies in the study of life in extreme environments, understanding the diversity, processes and biosignatures of life in extremes, and the potential habitability of extraterrestrial environments.

We have done some of our work through the UK Centre for Astrobiology in 2011, a virtual centre that we set up. Through this centre we've implemented a variety of activities from establishing the world's first underground astrobiology lab that we've used to study life in the deep subsurface through to launching several experiments to the International Space Station. We have used this centre to develop education projects, including the Life Beyond project in Scottish prisons. You can read about this virtual centre here: www.astrobiology.ac.uk

I am Course Organiser and teach on the pre-honours Astrobiology course (PHYS08051) at the University of Edinburgh (with Ken Rice). It seeks to give students a grounding in interdisciplinary science and the diverse disciplines including physics, astronomy, geology, biology and chemistry relevant to astrobiology.

I oversee and teach half of the SUPA Astrobiology and Search for Life course (SUPAASL), a graduate course in astrobiology.

I teach and run a Massive Open On-Line Learning (MOOC) introductory course on Astrobiology (https://www.coursera.org/learn/astrobiology). The course has attracted 130,000 students since it began.

I also direct Life Beyond, an education program for prisons that uses space exploration and astrobiology to advance science education and space exploration through prisons.