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Bob Allkin, PhD

◼ Position/Affiliation/E-mail
Position/Affiliation:

Digital Products and Services Lead, Science Directorate, Royal Botanic
Gardens, Kew, Richmond TW9 3AB, UK.
E-mail: b.allkin@kew.org
◼ Biography
Bob works as a biodiversity information scientist in “Digital Revolution” within Kew’s
Science Directorate. Bob’s team curate and deploy global authoritative references for the
scientific names and taxonomic classification of plants and fungi. These digital references
underpin all research and management of information about plants and fungi at Kew. They are
also recognised by botanists and our data are emedded in all major global biodiversity reference
systems: e.g. ‘Global Biodiversity Information Facility’, ‘World Flora Online’, ‘Catalogue of
Life’ and ‘Encyclopaedia of Life’.
Bob completed his PhD at the Natural History Museum in London before working in Mexico
to build diagnostic datasets and computer-assisted plant identification tools. He moved to
Southampton University to lead the data components of innovative botanical information
systems such as a global collaboration of legume systematists: “International Legume and
Information Services”. Bob then joined RBG Kew, to design data models and software for
botanists managing complex datasets. For 5 years, Bob worked for DFID (UK Government’s
overseas development agency) and led an Anglo-Brazilian bilateral development programme in
rural N.E. Brazil. “Plantas do Nordeste” created an applied research network collating scientific
data about plant uses and a network of development NGOs and community organisations to
disseminate this knowledge. On returning to Kew, Bob managed various projects focused on
disseminating Kew’s rich datasets (e.g. ‘Online herbarium’, ‘Legumes of the World’ and ‘The
PlantList’ (the first attempt to list all plants) which demonstrated the strong demand for easier
access to authoritative taxonomic references.
Bob established “Medicinal Plant Names Services” in 2012 to document medicinal plant uses
and to meet the understood needs of Medical Regulators. We published V14
www.kew.org/mpns in In Nov 2024 cataloguing substances derived from c.39K plants with 0.7
million alternative names in use in the literature for these plants and drugs. MPNS is not an
encyclopaedia but now serves as the default global reference for herbal medicinal products:
disambiguating and ensuring precision as to which species are used. We have a wide range of
collaborators including WHO, regulators, pharmacopoeias, industry bodies and chemists. We
designed herbal elements of the ISO IDMP data standard for which we supply a “Control
Vocabulary”. Other MPNS services support an increasing audience of practitioners, chemists,
pharmacists, historians, ethnobotanists and regulators. Encouraged by the success of MPNS,
Bob has established “Plants for Health” which expands our coverage to all natural health
products from plants and fungi (www.kew.org/plants-for-health) and to provide richer
information about these organisms and products.
Why names matter: Demystifying the Nomenclature of Plants and Herbal Substances. Allkin,
R. & Patmore, K. (2025) HerbalGram 142: 44-68. American Botanical Council.
https://www.herbalgram.org/resources/herbalgram/issues/142/table-of-contents/hg142-feat-
nomenclature/
Plant-based Indian Medicinal Foods: Increasing Precision and Accessibility of Scientific
Evidence Regarding Traditional Knowledge in India. Allkin, R., Subramanya, V, Megha (2024)
https://doi.org/10.34885/brzj-wz74

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