Michael Thomas Jackson OBE. (born 1948). Plant taxonomist, appointed as an OBE in the New Year's Honours List (2012) [1] for services to international food science. [2] [3]
Studied Environmental Botany and Geography at the University of Southampton (1970), at Birmingham University on the M.Sc. course in the 'Conservation and Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources' (1971) followed by a Ph.D. on researching the evolution of the potato, much of it based in Peru. [4] Then at the International Potato Center (CIP), Lima, Peru, until 1981. He taught plant taxonomy and crop plant evolution at the University of Birmingham (1981 - 1991). Next he was at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines (1991 - 2010). He was Head of the Genetic Resources Center at IRRI (1991 - 2001), which included responsibility for managing the International Rice Genebank Collection (IRGC), and from 2001 until he retired in 2010 he was IRRI's Director for Program Planning and Communications. [3] [2] He has published over 100 articles. [5] [6]
Elected a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London in 1972. [7]