Dr David Gray, head of site, HRI East Malling and Wye, has been appointed director of horticulture at the Royal Horticultural Society, with effect from the end of January 2003.

Gray has been a key member of staff at HRI and its various predecessor organisations (including NVRS) since 1969 and will succeed Joyce Stewart, who is retiring.

Gray completed a PhD at Edinburgh University in potato physiology. A period at the East of Scotland College of Agriculture (1965-68) working on the agronomy of arable and root crops, was followed by a year at Broom's Barn working on the agronomy of sugar beet. In 1969 he began his long and productive career at the National Vegetable Research Station (now HRI Wellesbourne) studying the control of tuber size in potato.

He then moved into other programmes of work which have remained his research focus over many years – vegetable crop establishment, seed quality, and the agronomy and physiology of field vegetables, protected crops, bulbs, HONS and weed biology.

Since the mid-1980s, Gray assumed management roles in HRI, culminating in his appointment as head of Crop and Weed Science, acting site director, Wellesbourne and, most recently, head of site, East Malling and Wye.

Dr Mike Solomon has been appointed deputy head of site, East Malling and Wye and will assume full responsibility after Gray's departure.