Studying Plant Sciences at Cambridge can open up a wealth of career opportunities. In this series, we hear from Plant Sciences alumni about their experiences of studying here, how it shaped their careers and what they are doing now.
If you would like your alumni story featured, please email us at alumni@plantsci.cam.ac.uk.
About Belinda
Belinda Clarke graduated in Natural Sciences (Part II Plant Sciences) from Cambridge, Newnham College in 1995.
Following a PhD in Plant Biochemistry at the John Innes Centre, she developed experience at the interface between industry, innovation and government, and became determined to bring farmers, researchers and technology developers closer together to improve the effectiveness of communication and mutual understanding, and to accelerate the adoption of new innovations on farms.
For the last decade she has led the creation and expansion of the award-winning membership network Agri-TechE.
Belinda is driven by the belief that innovation is a vital driver for agricultural productivity, environmental sustainability and economic growth.
In 2021 she received the Timothy Colman Prize for outstanding leadership in the agri-tech sector and was awarded an OBE in the 2024 King’s Birthday Honours List for services to agri-technologies and farming.
What is your favourite memory from your time in the Department of Plant Sciences?
It’s fair to say that discovering the Department felt like coming home. I came to Cambridge as a ‘mature’ student, having been a technician in the Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich for 4 years after my A Levels. University was always a means to an end for me – to be able to do a PhD – so I slogged through my first 2 Uni years a bit and then finally ‘found my tribe’ in Plant Sciences.
Doing my Part II project was such a joy – staying late and working in the lab on my Part II project made me feel at last like I was doing ‘proper’ research! I also remember going into my first supervision with the late Professor Tom ap Rees where he looked at me expectantly and said, “So, what questions to do have for me about my lecture this morning?” Gulp!
How did your time in the Department influence your career journey?
I always knew I wanted to work with and around plants and being in the Department just reinforced the wonder and joy of how plant sciences can do so much for people and the planet.
I still think about some of the lecture series we had – in particular one around adaptation to extreme environments, which was very prescient considering how agriculture is now experiencing major challenges from extreme events.
What have you gone on to do since leaving the Department?
I did my PhD at the John Innes Centre and then decided (after all that!) that life as a career researcher wasn’t for me. Halfway through my PhD I worked on a hands-on interactive exhibit about starch metabolism in plants for the Royal Norfolk Show. That showed me I was probably a better science communicator than researcher and I spent the next 25 years working at the interface between academia, industry and government forging collaborations and partnerships.
I now run Agri-TechE, an organisation I set up over a decade ago to help bring new research and innovations into the hands of farmers and the wider agri-food supply chain. We have built an ‘innovation ecosystem’ bringing together tech developers, researchers, and growers and farmers together to advance the ‘state of the art’ on farms.
What do you enjoy most about what you are doing now?
I work with people who just want to make things better - increase on-farm productivity, make food more nutritious, increase efficiency of supply chains and support nature recovery. The story sells itself really.
Image: Belinda Clarke, Director of Agri-TechE, an independent membership organisation for global innovation in agri-tech, and former student at the Department of Plant Sciences. Photo credit: Agri-TechE.