Prof Pinfield is a research astronomer and lecturer in physics astronomy and maths. His main research interests are in the areas of brown dwarfs, extra-solar planets and cool stars. He is the leader of an FP7 Initial Training Network (RoPACS) that focuses on planets and cool stars, and is co-PI of a >100 night planet transit survey as part of this network. He also leads projects exploiting large-scale near-mid infrared sky surveys (UKIDSS, VISTA and WISE) for ultra-cool science. In addition he carries out research to foster ongoing developments for future space-based studies of extra-solar planets, and collaborates in this area with Astrium (Europe's largest space engineering company) in Stevenage.