Alan Baker gained a 1st Class BSc (Hons) in Botany (1970) and PhD in Plant Ecology (1974) from Imperial College, London. Subsequently he was appointed Independent Research Worker in the Unit of Comparative Plant Ecology (NERC), University of Sheffield, UK, then Lecturer in Botany 1976-1992, Senior Lecturer in Plant Ecology 1992-1995 and Reader (Associate Professor) in Environmental Science in the Department of Animal and Plant Sciences at the University of Sheffield (1995-2000). He was awarded a DSc degree from the University of Sheffield in 2009. From October 2000 – August 2008, he was Professor of Botany (Ecology and Environmental Science) at the University of Melbourne, Australia where he headed the Applied Ecology Research Group in the School of Botany. His Lab was involved in restoration and revegetation projects of mineral wastes, remediation of contaminated land, in addition to carrying out fundamental research on heavy metal uptake and accumulation and on the development of novel phytotechnologies for soil remediation. On retirement from the University of Melbourne in 2008 he was made an Honorary Professorial Fellow in the new School of BioSciences. He is also an Honorary Professor in Centre for Mined Land Rehabilitation in the Sustainable Minerals Institute at The University of Queensland.