He took up the Regius Chair of Botany at Glasgow University in 2001 by Royal Warrant, where he heads the Plant Science Group of nine academic colleagues and some 50 postdoctoral and postgraduate researchers and technicians. He is a fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation (USA), the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Royal Society of Biology (London), and the James Hutton Institute. He has held a number of advisory roles and serves within the UK and internationally, including as a founding member of the BBSRC panel of experts, external assessor for the Chilean Science Foundation, NASA (USA), and the Swedish Science Directorate.