Martin J. Hodson

My first degree was in Botany, and I then worked on salt tolerance in plants for my doctorate, both at Swansea University, UK. I began my research on plant silicon in 1980, and now have 45 years of experience working on this element. The research has been varied, and has taken me into a wide range of topics: archaeology, biogeochemistry, cancer research, climate change, food science, palaeoecology, and even plant science! My current research includes using phytolith autofluorescence as a proxy for fire in archaeological contexts and investigating carbon sequestration in phytoliths as a potential solution to climate change. I am now a Visiting Researcher at Oxford Brookes University, UK and spend a lot of time helping and advising younger scientists on plant silicon.