Despite conservation efforts, the United Nations Environment Programme and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature conclude 30% of all wild animals will go extinct within 50 years. This is due, to increasing human population leading to climate change, habitat destruction, agricultural land needs, over-fishing and acidification of oceans. The Frozen Ark Project is a global strategy to conserve genetic resources of the world's endangered species for the long term before they go extinct. The project is analogous to the preservation of the world’s plants, such as Kew Garden's ‘Millennium Seed Bank’. Its global Consortium consists of a growing number of 22 zoos, aquaria, natural history museums and research laboratories dedicated to collecting and storing undegredated material for the long term. The material provides knowledge of great value to both wild animals and humans.

Many institutions store genetic material but often in a manner that does not allow preservation of undamaged material and seldom in coordination with other essential institutions. Few are exclusively for endangered species and none is designed for invertebrates on which all larger animals, including mankind, depend. The Frozen Ark is not a substitute for the conservation of the animals themselves but an essential back-up to the conservation movement. International collaboration with the worlds biobanks will be essential to the success of this project.

Degrees: 1968 BSc (Edin) 2:1 Class Honours in Zoology, 1973 PhD (Edin).

Appointments: 1957-1960 Research Assistant, Department of Zoology, Oxford. 1961-1962 Research Assistant, Department of Animal Genetics, Edinburgh. 1975-1978 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Nottingham. 1978-1983 Scientific Officer, Cancer Research Campaign Laboratories, Nottingham. 1991-1996 Senior Scientific Officer, The Babraham Institute, Cambridge, 1996-2000 MRC Project Leader, The Babraham Institute, Cambridge. 2000- 2008 Visiting Scientist at Babraham. 2004- Co-Founder and Managing Trustee of ‘The Frozen Ark Project’ at the registered charity office at the University of Nottingham. www.frozenark.org Member of the Frozen Ark Advisory Group, Amphibian Ark Biobanking Advisory Committee (ABAC) and BIAZA’s Terrestrial Invertebrate Working Group. 1991-1998 Inspector, Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority. 1991- University of Nottingham Honorary Senior Research Fellow. Member of 6 Partula Expeditions to the Society Islands and the Tongan Archipeligo. 1987-2006 Visiting Scholar, Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge. 2006- Honorary Member of the Combination Room.

Publications: 0ver 30 scientific publications on scientific and The Frozen Ark, invited speaker at national and international meetings on scientific and Frozen Ark work.