September 2013: Linnean Society President awarded honorary Doctorate

Prof Dianne Edwards CBE FRS, President of the Linnean Society of London, is a distinguished Research Professor in the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences at Cardiff University. She researches one of the most exciting events in Earth history, the invasion of the land by higher plants. Most of her research is focused on Silurian and Devonian rocks in Wales and the Welsh Borderland which have some of the world’s best preserved assemblages of fossil plants.

Professor Edwards began her undergraduate studies in Cambridge in 1961, continuing her postgraduate studies in Cambridge and Cornell, before moving to the University of Cardiff in 1970.

Professor Edwards is a Founder Fellow of The Learned Society of Wales, established in 2010 and Vice-President responsible for Science. Prof Edwards was also a Founder Trustee of the National Botanic Garden of Wales. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1996, awarded the CBE for Services to Botany in 1999, elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2001 and awarded an Honorary ScD from the University of Dublin in 2005. Additionally, she was awarded the prestigious Lyell Medal by the Geological Society of London in 2004. In 2010, Professor was awarded the Linnean Medal (Botany)by the Linnean Society of London and in 2013 she received the Lapworth Medal awarded by the Palaeontological Association.