Dr James M. Fountaine - BSPP Elected Board Member (Education officer)

John Clarkson

James Fountaine is a principle investigator in plant pathology at Scotland’s Rural College (formerly SAC). James was brought up in rural Norfolk before studying for a B.Sc. (Hons) in Applied Biological Sciences at UWE, Bristol. During this sandwich degree, he spent year 3 working as a field trials assistant at Cyanamid Agriculture UK within the fungicide trials team. Following this degree James embarked on his Ph.D. at Rothamsted studying the barley pathogen Rhynchosporium commune under the supervision of Dr. Bart Fraaije before gaining a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science fellowship to work with Prof. Hideo Ishii at NIAES, Tsukuba, Japan developing molecular diagnostics for fungicide resistance in a range of horticultural crops. After leaving Japan he moved to Edinburgh to take up a new role within the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC) as one of a team of plant pathologists, and also returned to barley pathology, with a particular focus on the fungus Ramularia collo-cygni and its ability to evolve fungicide resistance. James is also is a member of the UK Plant Health Strategic Forum and is involved in the review and development process of new plant health legislation currently being revised at an EU level.

Away from work James has a wide range of interests, but particularly enjoys getting out climbing the hills around Scotland and will never miss the opportunity to do a spot of travelling or yet again attempt to master surfing.