Biography

I graduated with a B.Sc in theoretical physics in 1983 from Durham - a beautiful city - but somewhat chastened by 3 years pondering in the silent corridors of the theoretical physics section at Durham, I escaped to various corners of the World for 18 months. On return, I opted for a Ph.D in medical imaging at the Institute of Cancer Research/Royal Marsden Hospital in London (nice people, happy memories..) which I got in 1989.

A promising career as an "Electrician's mate" on a Tottenham building site came to an abrupt end  after just six weeks when I "got a start" as a post-doc in Professor Chris Dainty's astronomical imaging group at Imperial College (a great chap). After four and a bit years at Imperial, I started a lectureship at Kent in 1994. I was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2002 and to Reader in 2005. I also direct VisionMetric Ltd, a spin-out company which is the UK's leading developer and supplier of facial composite software to the police. My main research activities focus on image processing and evolutionary methods with particular interest in the human face.