Mark J. Bailey, B.S., M.S.c, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow of the molecular genetics of syphilis pathogenicity, Birmingham, Fellow of American Academy of Microbiology (FAAM), and Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology (FRSB), and Director of the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH), Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). He was Section Head/Group Leader of Molecular Microbial Ecology and Director of the Institute Virology & Environmental Microbiology, CEH-Oxford, and Science Director of Biodiversity, CEH. Prof. Bailey serves selected positions including Elected Inaugural Fellow Royal Society of Biology, Board of Directors of Partnership for Environmental European Research (PEER), Honorary Research Fellow, the Natural History Museum, and Chair Helmholtz review panel for UFZ, Leipzig Germany. His research focuses on the development and application of molecular genetics and metagenomics to study the underlying principles of microbial ecology, microbial community dynamics, ecosystem function, habitat regulated gene expression, the functional activity of communities and the evolutionary relevance of the horizontal gene pool. These fundamental investigations are underpinned by the identification of ecologically significant genes in the interaction of bacteria with their environment and for the practical exploitation of natural isolates.