He was awarded Knighthood of the British Empire in the 2008 Queen's New Years Honors List for his services to science.
He was awarded the O.B.E. (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in 1999 for his services to science in embryo development.
He is the Director of the Scottish Center for Regenerative Medicine and is based in Peebles, Tweeddale, Scotland. (December 2007)
He attended the University of Nottingham to study agriculture, then switched to animal science. He received a PhD and fellowship at the University of Cambridge, focused on the preservation of semen and embryos by freezing.