Chris J. Leaver
Christopher John Leaver is an Emeritus Professorial Fellow of St John's College, Oxford who served as Sibthorpian Professor in the Department of [Plant Sciences, University of Oxford|Department of Plant Sciences] at the University of Oxford from 1990 to 2007.
Education
Leaver was educated at Lyme Regis Grammar School and Imperial College London where he was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree followed by a PhD in plant physiology in 1966.Career and research
Leaver's area of expertise is in plant biochemistry, development, plant physiology and signalling; before his current positions, he has at the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology at Purdue University and the University of Edinburgh. During his career, Leaver held the following positions:- Botanist on the Imperial College Hornsund expedition, Spitzbergen, 1962 and Beerenberg expedition, Jan Mayen, 1963
- Fulbright Scholar, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, 1966–68
- Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh 1969–80, promoted to Reader in 1980
- Science and Engineering Research Council senior research fellow 1985–90
- Professor of Plant Molecular Biology 1986–1990
- University of Oxford Sibthorpian Professor of Plant Science, 1990–2007
- Head of the department of Plant Sciences 1991–2007
- Fellow of St John's College, Oxford 1990–
- Emeritus Professor of Plant Science, University of Oxford 2008–
Awards and honours
Leaver was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1986. His nomination reads:Leaver was also awarded EMBO Membership in 1982, elected a member of the Academia Europaea in 1989 and appointed Commander of the British Empire in the 2000 New Year Honours.