I was born in New Zealand in 1965 and moved to Northern Ireland with my parents in 1969.  My early education was at Portstewart Primary School and Coleraine Academical Institution. Following an undergraduate degree in Natural Sciences at Churchill College (1983-1986), I stayed at the University of Cambridge for a PhD with Professor Jeremy Sanders in the University Chemical Laboratory (1986-1989). I was appointed to a Lecturership at the University of Otago in New Zealand in 1989. I moved to the University of Sheffield in 1991 and was promoted to Professor of Chemistry in 1997. In 2014, I returned to the University of Cambridge as the Herchel Smith Professor of Organic Chemistry and Fellow of Emmanuel College.