Originally a marine biologist with the United Nations Development Programme, my subsequent career has included being a science teacher, an educational consultant and a learning developer in higher education. As a non-fiction author I have written widely across the life sciences and earth sciences. I now specialise in academic writing and learning development, and in issues concerning the conservation of marine and freshwater environments. 

Among my many books for children are Journey to the Centre of the Atom (Kingfisher), which was shortlisted for the Rhône-Poulenc (now Royal Society) junior science prize in 1997, and Youch, It Bites! (Templar), listed for the English 4–11 picture books award in 2000. Adult works include Whale Watcher (Natural History Museum, 2006), the revised edition of Oceans (Facts on File, 2008) and Sardine (Reaktion, 2018).

I am unusual in having academic research experience in both science and social science. I devised and led the Royal Literary Fund’s (RLF’s) Consultant Fellows’ programme (2013–21), which trains and supports RLF Fellows and former-Fellows to work with groups of students or staff in universities. Students and staff have responded very warmly to my book, Success in Academic Writing (3rd edition, Bloomsbury 2023), which adopts a pragmatic yet holistic approach.

I delight in snorkelling and wild swimming, writing about such experiences in a wider context. I live in a village amid Wiltshire’s ancient landscape with my wife Christina and a fishpond.