Giles Oldroyd,
PhD
President
Giles Oldroyd is President of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center where he is dedicated to advancing the Center’s mission to improve the human condition through plant science. With more than 350 employees, the Danforth Center is the largest independent plant science institute in the world.
A plant geneticist, Giles is internationally recognized for pioneering research to understand symbiotic interactions between plants and beneficial bacteria and fungi that aid in the uptake of nutrients, especially nitrogen and phosphorus. He is among the top 1% of highly cited plant scientists across the globe, and one of only a few hundred scientists in the world who are elected members in both the UK’s Royal Society and the US National Academy of Sciences, the two foremost scientific organizations in the English-speaking world.
From 2012 until 2025, he led an international programme funded by the Gates Foundation and the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to develop nitrogen-fixing cereals.
By bridging scientific research with practical applications, Giles actively collaborates with industry and academic partners to tackle pressing global food security and environmental challenges. Giles has received numerous awards and in recognition of his impactful work, he was named one of the Top Agri-Food Pioneers by the World Food Prize Foundation in 2024.
Originally from the UK, Giles received his undergraduate degree in biology from the University of East Anglia and earned his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. His early research on beneficial microbial interactions began as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University. In 2002 he joined the John Innes Centre, UK as an independent investigator. In 2017 he moved to the University of Cambridge, initially as a Principal Investigator at the Sainsbury Laboratory, later as the Russell R. Geiger Professor of Crop Science and Director of the Crop Science Centre. In 2025 he took on the role of President of the Danforth Center where he continues to lead transformative advancements in plant science.
