Short CV of Nick Birch

Nick Birch is senior entomologist and a research leader at the Scottish Crop Research Institute in Dundee, Scotland (www.scri.ac.uk). SCRI provides fundamental, applied and policy-related research on plants and their environmental interactions in managed ecosystems. SCRI’s research focuses on processes that regulate growth of plants and their responses to pests, pathogens and the environment. It includes genetics research to breed crops (e.g. potatoes, cereals, soft fruit, brassicas) with improved nutritional value and resistance to pests and diseases (via conventional breeding and biotechnology routes).

His key qualifications and research experience are:

Convenor of two IOBC Working Groups on ‘Transgenic Organisms in IPM’ and ‘Breeding for Resistance to Pests and Diseases’.
Insect-plant interactions and multi-trophic modelling for pests of potato, soft fruit (raspberry, blackcurrant) and brassicas.
Chemical ecology of insect, mite and nematode interactions with plants, involving attractants, repellents, deterrents, host recognition signals and host plant resistance mechanisms.
Integrated Pest Management strategies and breeding for durable pest resistance in potatoes, soft fruit, brassicas (defra Hortlink project ‘Integrated Pest and Disease Management for high quality protected raspberry production’).
Ecological impacts of GM crops in UK, Europe and developing countries, particularly on non-target, beneficial insects (EU ECOGEN project; IOBC Global WG; EU expert consultant; GMO ERA project).
Scientific advisor and research evaluator for the European Commission on GM crop environmental impacts, Breeding for pest and disease resistance, IPM strategies.
Coordinator of SCRI LEAF (Linking Farming and Environment) Innovation Centre.
Honorary lecturer for Dundee University. PhD examiner for Dundee University, Edinburgh University, Cardiff University, Lincoln University, New Zealand.

He joined IOBC wprs in 1981 (WG Breeding for Resistance to Insects and Mites) and became Convenor of this WG in 1999, taking over from Bob Ellis. He was local organizer of the 8th WG meeting, held in Dundee in September 1998. He is co-organiser of a joint IOBC wprs WG (‘Breeding for Inducible Resistance to Pests and Diseases, Crete, April 2006). The WG has been re-named ‘Breeding for Resistance to Pests and Diseases’ and covers multi-disciplinary topics including mechanisms of host plant resistance, screen methods, sources of resistance, durability of resistance against biotypes/pathotypes, and use of resistant crops (conventional and GM) in IPM. The WG has links with other IOBC wprs WGs, particularly the WG for Induced Resistance.