Welcome return

LURING Professor Jeff Waage back to Imperial College wasn’t difficult.

"I missed the academic environment and culture; I get a buzz out of working across many different subjects and enjoy stimulating my creative as well as  managerial talents," he says.

Professor Jeff Waage

Returning to continue in this vein as the new head of department of agricultural sciences based at Wye campus, his latest role is a welcome return from the world’s boardrooms and conventions where he spent his days debating agricultural and environmental issues with governments. His latest quest is to turn what he has learned to Imperial’s advantage.

"By being in Wye, IC has put itself in an excellent position. What really stands out here is the breadth of relevant research from environment, agriculture and plant science, to economics and policy — it’s quite a unique feature to offer.

"Building Wye as an engine of science and policy, as well as providing IC with new resources in our areas of expertise, is all immensely exciting.

"Looking back over the last 100 years, you can point to what Wye has done from the development of herbicides to agricultural policies. I keep bumping into people who think of Wye as a real centre for international thinking in agriculture. This must be maintained, especially in the light of IC’s role in international development."

Jeff’s own interests were sparked by his geologist father who passed on a love for science to his son and let him loose for hours in the halls of Yale University’s Peabody museum where his father was director.

"Although I grew up amongst geologists, I was always more interested in things that moved than rocks."

After wandering into entomology as an undergraduate, Jeff came to the UK on a Marshall Fellowship. His Princeton professor Bob May, persuaded him that the best place to study bugs was Imperial College. In 1975, he arrived at Silwood Park to study for a PhD, returning there to lecture in the department of biology between 1978 and 1986.

He moved laterally at Silwood as director of the International Instiute of Biological Control, then chief executive of its parent organisation, CABI Bioscience. He developed and managed more than 150 projects while advising on broader development issues in sustainable agriculture and biodiversity.

One of his proudest memories is a project he organised and led to develop a biological control method for the desert locust.

"It was a very exciting time. We had this great idea about using local, specific, insect-killing fungi to control locusts, and a clever way to make them work in sprays under desert conditions.

"The link with Imperial at Silwood was fantastic. We worked very closely with them to develop the technology to put fungal spores in oil for aerial application, through a joint Leverhulme project. It is now used in Africa, Australia, Europe and Asia.

"Such a winning solution gives me a real kick; we’ve really reduced inappropriate pesticide provision in the developing world with something very ecological and with real agricultural benefits. Too often, environmental and agricultural interests are at opposite ends of the spectrum."

Jeff is chairman of the global invasive species programme, a global network of scientists, environmentalists, economists and lawyers who address the threat posed by the growing movement of alien invasive species around the world.

The programme’s work ranges from foot and mouth and grey squirrels, to invasive weeds and insects in tropical forests.  

"People are unaware of problems today and how big global trade has made these problems; countries often respond with a protectionist approach, but they need to look globally for the knowledge and the solutions.

"There is so much science to be done to better understand the invasiveness of species, the invasibility of ecosystems, and the global consequences of the changes in vegetation patterns and ecosystem processes which biological invasions are causing. Increasingly, we live in a landscape punctuated by a series of biological crises. A major contribution we can make is to help examine options for prevention and management for the next invasive weed, pest or disease."

He returns to the subject of Wye. Considering the College blessed with a very beautiful old campus, conducive to deep thought, he has learned that it is anything but quiet.

"There’s a real hum of interdisciplinary and lateral thinking here, coupled with a charmed combination of basic science, agriculture, environment and economics.

"People look for organisations that bridge gaps between modern agricultural science and environmental conservation. They want to throw lines across the chasms and build bridges. IC at Wye is that kind of institution. Wye has always been right at the beginning of new ideas. I intend to see it stays there."