People

Way, Michael

Job Title International Coordinator (Americas)
Department Seed Conservation
Section Seed Conservation Department
Science Teams Drylands: Tropical America
Millennium Seed Bank Project
Joined Kew 1993
Foreign Language(s) Portuguese, Spanish

Qualifications & Appointments

BSc (Hons), Applied and Environmental Biology, Univ. York, 1988

Overseas Fieldwork Committee (RBG Kew)

Awards committee, Kew Latin America Fellowships

Role

Developing and managing seed conservation projects with partners in Mexico, Chile and USA; access and benefit-sharing; seed-collection training.

Responsible for the development and management of operational partnerships between RBG Kew and Americas partners (currently in USA, Mexico and Chile) within the framework of the Millennium Seed Bank Project. Main duties include: co-ordinating the negotiation of access and benefit-sharing agreements between Kew and partner institutions, and managing project country-budgets for the Americas; overseeing in-country project staff and line-managing the Latin American Programme Officer; co-ordinating all Seed Conservation Department and wider RBG Kew inputs into local seed conservation projects in the Americas; building local plant conservation capacity through active participation in in-country projects, specialising in science and practice of seed collecting. Contributing to the development of best practice in fieldwork, plant conservation, access and benefit-sharing and habitat restoration through participation in RBG Kew committees and work groups.

Projects

Ex situ Conservation of Endemic, Endangered and Vulnerable Plant Species from the Arid Lands of Chile

Ex situ Conservation of Plant Germplasm from Arid and Semi-Arid Zones of Mexico

Ex Situ Conservation of Threatened Chilean Flora Through Propagation

Kew Latin America Research Fellowships

Monocot Checklist

MSB Enhancement Project Part 1A – Species Targeting

Seeds of Success USA: Native Plant Materials for Conservation and Restoration

Theme: Climate and Reproductive Biology

World Checklist of Malpighiales

Selected Publications 2001-2005

León-Lobos, P., Way, M., Pritchard, H., Moreira, A., León, M. & Casado, F. (2003). Conservación ex situ en banco de semillas de la Flora Chile, Chloris Chilensis Año 6, No 1. [http:www.chlorischile.cl]

Way, M.J. (2003). Collecting seed from non-domesticated plants for long-term conservation’. In Smith, R.D., Dickie, J.B., Linington, S.H., Pritchard, H.W. & Probert, R.J. (eds) Seed Conservation: turning science into practice. Kew: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 163-201.

Figueroa, J.A., León-Lobos, P., Caviares, L.A., Pritchard, H. & Way, M. (2004). Ecofisología de semillas en ambientes contrastantes de Chile: un gradiente desde ecosistemas desérticos a templados-húmedos. In Cabrera, H.N. (ed) Fisiología de plantas- Mecanismos y respuestas a estrés en los ecosistemas. Chile: Ediciones Universidad Valparaíso. 81-98.

Gold, K., Leon-Lobos, P. & Way, M.J. (2004). Manual de recoleccion de semillas de plantas silvestres para conservacion a largo plazo y restauracion ecologica. La Serena, Chile: Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias.