I was formerly a senior lecturer in plant ecology and director of biological recording programmes at Manchester Metropolitan University.  Field Identification Skills Certificates (FISCs) were developed by Sue Townsend of FSC and me and we ran these through the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (of which I am a trustee).  I’m interested in aquatic plant ecology and the assessment and quantification of field skills.  If I had to describe myself in three words – card-carrying botanist