Peter Horton

Professor Peter Horton FRS is Emeritus Professor of Biochemistry in the Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at the University of Sheffield. Graduating with a BA in Biology in 1970, he holds a D.Phil. and D.Sc. all from the University of York. After postdoctoral training at Purdue University, he was appointed as Assistant Professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1975. He then took up the post of Lecturer in Biochemistry at the University of Sheffield in 1978, was promoted to Reader in 1984 and to Professor in 1990. He was director of the Robert Hill Institute for Photosynthesis Research from 1989 until 2003. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 2010 in recognition of his research into the regulation of the light reactions of photosynthesis, particularly the molecular transformations that enable plants to efficiently use limiting light but dissipate excess light to protect themselves from damage during environmental stress, publishing over 200 peer reviewed papers in this field. He led two international agricultural projects, on abiotic stress in common bean in South America and on rice photosynthesis, in collaboration with the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines. From 2008 to 2014, he was research advisor to the University of Sheffield’s Project Sunshine, the science behind food and energy sustainability and from 2014 until the present, Chief Scientific Advisor to the Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures. As part of this role, he is helping develop an interdisciplinary research programme in food security, the University of Sheffield Sustainable Food Futures (SheFF) programme.