I am responsible for the tree fruit and raspberry improvement programmes at EMR and manage the commercially-funded EM Rootstock Club (EMRC) and the EM Cherry Group (EMCG). My research interests include the development of molecular markers in rosaceous fruit crops and their deployment for germplam characterisation and identification. I am particularly interested in the identification of markers associated with agronomically-important traits such as pest and disease resistances and fruit quality as tools for Marker Assisted Breeding (MAB). I have a keen interest in novel/minor fruit crops and I have written a Nuffield Report about the potential of these crops for diversification of the UK fruit industry.