Parker is Professor of Plant Cytogenetics at Cambridge and Director of the Cambridge University Botanic Garden. Parker’s research interests are in the genetics of natural populations of plants, biodiversity and gene flow. He asserts that a fundamental understanding of plant biodiversity is important for conservation processes and understanding environmental impacts. Parker is also Curator of the University’s Herbarium, which contains the best record of the development the British Flora over the last 300 years. As the curator, Parker oversees the historical preservation of thousands of plant specimens and research data compiled by John Henslow, who was Charles Darwin’s mentor at Cambridge. Henslow taught Darwin how to collect and mount specimens, and some of the first actual specimens Darwin collected in this way are housed in the Herbarium. This collection is also invaluable for the analysis of the biological impact of climate change such as the impact of increased levels of CO2 on plants.