Michael Fay is currently Head of Genetics at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and he feels, “I have the good fortune in this post to be able to work on orchids, a group of plants that have fascinated me since childhood”

. He studied Genetics for his BSc at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, UK, followed by a PhD on Genetic Resources in Trifolium at the Welsh Plant Breeding Station.

He has worked at Kew for 20 years, starting out his career there running the Micropropagation Unit where many tropical and temperate orchids were propagated, mainly from seed. The Unit houses the Sainsbury Orchid Project which has been involved in propagating threatened native orchids for reintroduction, notably Cypripedium calceolus and Liparis loeselii.

Since 1995, Mike has been involved in establishing a programme in conservation genetics at Kew, with a major focus on species from the UK, but with other projects from elsewhere. Orchids continue to be a major focus of his work, and current projects relate to conservation genetics of Cephalanthera spp., Cypripedium calceolus, Dactylorhiza spp., Liparis loeselii, Neotinea ustulata, Orchis spp. He also studies genome evolution in several of these groups.

He has a keen interest in the application of scientific techniques to conservation problems, and he maintains a strong working relationship with staff from the appropriate conservation agencies. Attracting funds for these studies is one of his major challenges for the future.

He has just succeeded Phil Cribb as Chair of the Orchid Specialist Group (in Spring 2006) and is slowly finding his feet in the new role!