Francesca Leoni has been curator of Islamic art at the Ashmolean Museum since 2011, following curatorial and research roles at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (2008–2011), Rice University (2008–2010), and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2007–2008). Her recent books include the co-edited volume Islamicate Occult Sciences in Theory and Practice (Leiden, 2020), Aegean Legacies: Greek Island Embroideries from the Ashmolean Museum (London, 2021) and the forthcoming exhibition catalogue In Bloom: How Plants Shaped Our World (Oxford, 2026).

Professor Stephen Harris is an expert on the use of molecular markers in evolutionary and conservation biology, especially hybridization, polyploidy, the evolutionary consequences of human-mediated plant movement and conservation genetics. He is also interested in the problems of using herbarium specimens as a source of DNA for evolutionary studies, and the history of botany.