Harman Patil (Editor)

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

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Website
  
www.kew.org

Number of employees
  
750

Budget
  
59.7 million GBP

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

Location
  
Kew, London Borough of Richmond upon Thames

Key people
  
Marcus Agius (Chairman)Richard Deverell (Director)Kathy Willis (Director of Science)

Mission
  
To be the global resource in plant and fungal knowledge, and the world’s leading botanic garden.

Type of business
  
Similar
  
Kew Gardens, Kew Palace, Palm house, Temperate House, Wakehurst Place

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Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (brand name Kew) is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 750 staff. Its chief executive is the current Director, Richard Deverell. Its board of trustees is chaired by Marcus Agius, a former chairman of Barclays PLC.

Contents

The organisation manages botanic gardens at Kew in Richmond upon Thames in southwest London, and at Wakehurst Place, a National Trust property in Sussex which is home to an internationally important Millennium Seed Bank. The Seed Bank is also the site of multiple research projects and international partnerships with at least 80 countries. Seed stored at the bank fulfils two functions: it provides an ex situ conservation resource and also facilitates research around the globe by acting as a repository for seed scientists. Kew jointly with the Forestry Commission, founded Bedgebury Pinetum in Kent, specialising in growing conifers.

The organisation has an average of 1 million paying visitors per year. The 326 acre site has 40 historically important buildings and collections of over 40,000 species of plants. Kew Gardens became a United Nations World Heritage Site on 3 July 2003.

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Governance

Kew is governed by a Board of Trustees which comprises a chairman and 11 members. Ten members and the chairman are appointed by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Her Majesty the Queen appoints her own trustee on the recommendation of the Secretary of State. As of 2015 the Board members are:

  • Marcus Agius, Chairman
  • Professor Jonathan Drori CBE
  • Val Gooding
  • Dr Geoffrey Hawtin
  • Ian Karet
  • Sir Henry Keswick
  • George Loudon
  • Sir Derek Myers
  • Professor Malcolm Press
  • Professor Nicola Spence
  • Jennifer Ullman
  • Sir Ferrers Vyvyan
  • Scientific staff

    Kew employs approximately 250 scientists, and also hosts over 40 PhD students and 88 honorary research fellows and associates. The Director of Science is University of Oxford Professor Kathy Willis. Her deputy is Professor Monique Simmonds. Professor Mark Chase is Senior Research Professor.

    References

    Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Wikipedia