Robbie Waugh

Robbie has made major contributions to the development and exploitation of enabling technologies and accompanying genetic resources that have promoted barley as both a ‘crop and model’ for the research and commercial sectors.  He developed a range of practical tools and informational resources that now pervade barley genetics research in both the global academic and commercial sectors (e.g SNP genotyping platforms, genome sequences, reference transcriptomes etc.).  Over his career he has exploited these platforms for genetic analyses, gene isolation and functional characterisation.  His research is based largely on understanding and using biodiversity, particularly through the development and application of genetic approaches for trait dissection.  He established a powerful platform for efficiently exploiting mutants for gene identification and functional validation by both forward and reverse genetics strategies.  The outputs of his research have provided new understanding of the genetic control of inflorescence architecture, culm branching, pigmentation, lignin content, meiosis, growth habit and heading date.  He maintains productive relationships with the international cereals research community and despite the more ‘translational’ nature of his research that has been exclusively conducted on crops he has published extensively and is highly cited.

Awards

Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology (2015 onwards)

Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (2013 onwards)

Honorary Professor, University of Glasgow (2008 onwards)

Education

• BSc (hons), Strathclyde University (1981)
• PhD, University of Dundee (1987)