Nick Talbot is Executive Director of the The Sainsbury Laboratory, a research institute focused on the study of plant disease control and plant immunity. His research is focused on the biology of plant diseases and in particular understanding the biology of plant infection by the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae. Before joining The Sainsbury Laboratory, Prof. Talbot was Deputy Vice Chancellor for Research and Impact (2010-18), Head of the School of Biosciences (2004-10) and Professor of Molecular Genetics (1999-2018) at the University of Exeter. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 2014. He was also Chair of the GW4 Research Alliance (Universities of Bristol, Cardiff, Exeter and Bath) 2016-18 and Co-ordinated the South-East Wales and South West England Science and Innovation Audit (2017).