Martin Parry (http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/lec/about-us/people/martin-parry) is a Professor of Plant Science for Food Security in the Lancaster Environment Centre at Lancaster University, providing strategic leadership of research to facilitate the development of globally relevant and accessible food systems. Martin’s research both encompasses the exploitation of natural diversity and also the creation of new characteristics through biotechnology. His current research is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research, UK Department for International Development, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and European Union. Martin was ranked in the top 1 per cent by citations for field and publication year in 2018 Web of Science, Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher. In 2014 he was presented with China National Friendship Award.