Tim Wheeler is director of research and innovation at the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the UK's main agency for funding excellent research in the environmental sciences. His work tackles major issues such as climate change and environmental influences on human health, and covers the full range of atmospheric, earth, biological, terrestrial, and aquatic sciences. As professor of crop science at the University of Reading, Tim has published more than 180 scientific papers. Over twenty-five years he has addressed the relationship between climate change and the sustainability of agriculture and food, undertaking research in Bolivia, Honduras, The Gambia, Uganda, China, India and elsewhere. Tim was invited to deliver the Royal Society Public Lecture titled 'Growing crops in changing climate' in 2005. He was appointed specialist adviser to the EU Committee on Agriculture in the House of Lords in 2009/2010. Then, for six years he was deputy chief scientific adviser at the UK Department for International Development. Tim has served as a member of BBSRC Council, the HEFCE REF sub-panel for Agriculture, Veterinary and Food Science and two of the UK's Government's Leadership Councils (Agricultural Technology and Space). He is currently a visiting professor of agriculture at the University of Reading.