Professor Nick Talbot elected AAAS Fellow for Open Science and Global Collaboration

NRPDTP congratulate Professor Nick Talbot, Executive Director and Group Leader at The Sainsbury Laboratory (TSL) and one of our supervisors who has been elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) “for advancing scientific understanding and public awareness of fungal plant diseases and for leadership in fostering equity, global collaboration and access to genomic resources.”

Nick commented, “I am deeply honoured to be elected as an AAAS Fellow. This recognition is a testament not only to the discoveries of my research group but also to the dedication of my collaborators and the progressive, inclusive research culture we champion at TSL. Open science and global collaboration are fundamental to addressing the world’s most pressing challenges, and I am pleased to see these values recognised.”

His pioneering research on the rice blast fungus (Magnaporthe oryzae), which causes the most serious disease of cultivated rice has led to major breakthroughs in plant disease resistance with global implications for food security.

Nick has supervised 42 PhD students to date. He is also an advocate for open science and equity. He co-leads a programme with another of our supervisors, Professor Diane Saunders from the John Innes Centre to support female scientists in wheat research. Nick’s election as an AAAS Fellow is a welcome recognition of the vital role of open science and collaboration alongside research excellence—core principles that define both TSL and AAAS.

AAAS Fellows are a distinguished cadre recognised for their achievements across disciplines, from research, teaching and technology to administration in academia, industry and government to excellence in communicating and interpreting science to the public. Nick is the fourth current TSL group leader to receive this distinguished lifetime honour within the scientific community, joining Professors Jonathan Jones, Sophien Kamoun, and Wenbo Ma.

The Sainsbury Laboratory (TSL) is committed to the highest standards of fundamental and applied scientific research into molecular plant-microbe interactions. TSL favours daring, collaborative, long-term research and values scientific integrity through open science and transparency.

AAAS is one of the world’s largest general scientific societies and publishes the Science family of journals. It was founded in 1848 and includes more than 250 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving ten million individuals. Its mission is to “advance science and serve society” through initiatives in science policy, international programmes, science education, public engagement and more.