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How I became a botanist in a world that had forgotten about plants
Finding purpose in plants
“Don’t all sit at the back!” shouted Dr. Brian Ferry, lecturer of Royal Holloway College’s plant geography second-year course unit.
It was 2008, and the biology department had assigned us the main lecture theatre for a course with only five participants.
Despite the temptation of the accompanying field course in Tenerife, the vast lecture theatre was…shall we say… noticeably empty.
The remainder of the second-year students had voted with their feet and opted for the more ‘trendy’ options, like cell biology, human anatomy, and all things cute and furry. Plants were decidedly out of fashion.
The plant awareness disparity was real.
In one of the world’s most nature-depleted countries, most British students had no clue why a career in the plant sciences was worthwhile. Plants were just a stationary green background for them.
Meanwhile, universities around the country were cutting their botany and ecology courses and chasing research funds in more lucrative fields such as biotechnology, genomics, and stem cell research. Student demand for botanical training was falling, and departmental mergers were rampant.