Robin has a background in plant science, and for over 35 years has been involved in modelling biological systems, ranging from the gene level to the global level. He has had a long experience in crop modelling, particularly of tropical crops, having developed models of Eucalyptus, cassava, and tea production, and has modelled the impact of climate change on rice production systems in Asia. Subsequently, he extended this work to soil processes, which has included work on methane emissions from rice agriculture, carbon sequestration under biomass plantations in the UK, the sustainability of carbon and nitrogen in cropping systems in Nepal