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. 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. 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.
Prior to joining the Danforth Center in 2025, Giles served as Russell R. Geiger Professor of Crop Science and Director of the Crop Science Centre at the University of Cambridge, UK. From 2012 until 2025, he led the Gates Foundation-funded Enabling Nutrient Symbioses in Agriculture (ENSA) program to develop nitrogen-fixing cereals. 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.
