After graduating in Botany from the University of St. Andrews I chose to remain and carry out research in the field of post-anoxic injury under the supervision of Prof Bob Crawford (Botany) and Dr Ian Hunter (Biochemistry). I then moved to the University of Edinburgh for two years working with Prof Tony Trewavas FRS who introduced me to the subject of calcium-based signalling in plants. I was Tony’s first post-doc in this area and worked on the first membrane-bound protein kinase to be identified in plants. Next I moved to Lancaster as a lecturer where Prof Terry Mansfield FRS introduced me to stomata. I found that the guard cell was an ideal model in which to investigate calcium-based signalling. We found that treating guard cells with ABA brought about an increase in the concentration of cytosolic. This was also true after exposure to a concentration of carbon dioxide that induce stomatal closure. This stimulated a major interest in understanding the control of specificity in calcium-based signalling systems. I moved to Bristol University in 2006 where I have continued my research into the control of stomatal function and development. Over the last 10 years I have become interested in the evolution of stomata in particular their origin and the evolution of the intracellular signalling pathways that underlie their movements. Over the years I have benefitted from strong collaborations with Prof Julie Gray (University of Sheffield, UK), Prof Colin Brownlee (Marine Biological Assocation of the UK) and Prof Joeg Kudla (Muenster, Germany).