(1972-) Genetic Scientist

Leader of the Genetic Modification and Biosafety Research Group at the John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK. He worked in agriculture for several years before graduating in Agricultural Botany and obtaining a doctorate in Plant Genetics.

Following a period of plant breeding and genetics research at the Welsh Plant Breeding Station (1972-85), he became Research Group Leader at the Plant Breeding Institute, Cambridge during the mid-late 1980's, where he was involved in the first field experiments with GM crops and led several research programmes on biosafety assessment. Professor Dale moved to the John Innes Centre in Norwich in 1990 and currently leads several research programmes studying the behaviour and stability of GM crops.

From 1993 to 1999, he was a member of the UK Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE) and during 1998 he became a member of the UK Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes. He was appointed Deputy Chair of the committee in 2002. In 2000 he was asked to join the Agriculture and Environment Biotechnology Commission, which provided the Government with advice on developments in biotechnology and their implications for agriculture and the environment.

In August 2002 Dale was awarded an honorary professorship at the University of East Anglia and became a Fellow of the Institute of Biology.