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Academic partners

Associate partners

Kew Royal Botanic Gardens

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a global resource for plant and fungal knowledge. Kew has one of the largest and most diverse collections of plant and fungal specimens (living and preserved) in the world. Our unique combination of extensive collections, databases, scientific expertise and global partnerships gives Kew a leading role in facilitating access to fundamental plant and fungal information.

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a global resource for plant and fungal knowledge. Kew has one of the largest and most diverse collections of plant and fungal specimens (living and preserved) in the world. Our unique combination of extensive collections, databases, scientific expertise and global partnerships gives Kew a leading role in facilitating access to fundamental plant and fungal information.

The core purpose of Kew’s science stems from a simple but often overlooked truth: all our lives depends on plants. 


Kew has three strategic priorities:


•    To document and conduct research into global plant and fungal diversity and its uses for humanity
•    To curate and provide data-rich evidence from Kew’s unrivalled collections as a global asset for scientific research
•    To disseminate our scientific knowledge of plant and fungi, maximising its impact in science, education, conservation policy and management. 


Over 400 scientific staff, postgraduate students and honorary researchers deliver RBG Kew’s strategic priorities through six research departments 


o    Collections
o    Identification and Naming
o    Comparative Plant and Fungal Biology
o    Conservation Science
o    Natural Capital and Plant Health
o    Biodiversity Informatics and Spatial Analysis

Kew delivers its science through three main buildings. The Herbarium and Jodrell Laboratory – based at Kew, and the Millennium Seed Bank, at Wakehurst in Sussex.
RBG Kew also has an extensive international network of over 400 individual partners with scientific activities and collaborations spanning 110 countries. Since its inception and continuing today, RBG Kew has played a major role in discovering and documenting plant and fungal diversity in all the world’s tropical regions.


Around 50 research staff seek out supervisory roles within Doctoral Training Partnerships, and approximately 70 PhD students are currently co-supervised at Kew. We have a thriving student community made up of undergraduate one-year sandwich students, MSc students and PhD students, along with our horticultural students in the School of Horticulture. 


Along with our science directorate, Kew is also a thriving major UK visitor attraction, attracting around two million visitors a year. We welcome over 100,000 school children each year as part of our learning programmes, and deliver science-orientated visitor festivals such as the annual Kew Science Festival and the annual Orchid Festival. Kew has around 100,000 members, and we publish an associated members magazine, as well as a range of both academic and consumer-orientated books and periodicals including Kew Bulletin and Curtis’s Botanical Magazine. Students at Kew are encouraged to play a wider role during their time at Kew, writing for the website, taking part in science in the gardens and supporting our school’s learning programme.