Dr Sophie Neale

Head of Biodiversity Programmes

Sophie has been researching Middle Eastern plants since 2001. For her PhD, she studied the developmental genetics of flowering in Begonia socotrana, a winter flowering Socotran species of Begonia.

After graduating, Sophie joined the RBGE’s bioinformatics team working on the user interface testing for the Synthesys BioCase project. She joined CMEP in 2007 to work on the Oman Botanic Garden project.

Sophie has fieldwork experience in a number of Middle Eastern countries, including Oman, Iraq and Yemen. She is particularly engaged in capacity building and delivers tailored RBGE’s courses in practical field botany and practical horticulture to groups from the region.

Sophie’s recent projects include Key Biodiversity Areas in Iraq & KAPSARC. She is currently developing a series of research programmes for the Flora of Arabia. These will investigate the evolution, genetic diversity & conservation of important plant groups such as Aloe and Boswellia.