Professor Tim Entwisle is a highly respected scientist, scientific communicator and botanic gardens director. He took up the role of Director and Chief Executive of Royal Botanic Gardens (including Melbourne Gardens and Cranbourne Gardens) in March 2013, following two years in a senior role at Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, and eight years as Executive Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust in Sydney. Tim is an Honorary Professorial Fellow in the School of Botany at The University of Melbourne and has been a Visiting Professor in the School of Biological and Biomedical Science, Durham University. He is an expert in freshwater algae (a genus, family and order of algae were named after him in 2013) but has a broad interest in all plants and related life forms (e.g. he edited and wrote for the 4-volume “Flora of Victoria”). Tim blogs, tweets, and looks for any opportunity to promote science, plants and gardens. Tim has been a regular contributor to ABC radio and its website, and a frequent guest on Australian radio and television – over summer 2014/15 he hosted ABC Radio National’s first plant and gardening show, Talking Plants, which ran for a second season in 2015/16. He has written for a variety of science, nature and garden magazines and maintains an active social media profile (including his popular “Talking Plants” blog).