Andrew Holmes held an academic position in Cambridge for 32 years, ultimately as Director of the Melville Laboratory for Polymer Synthesis and Professor of Organic and Polymer Chemistry. In 2004 he moved as an ARC Federation Fellow to the University of Melbourne and CSIRO.  His research interests involve applications of synthesis to materials science and biology.  He has made extensive contributions in the area of light emitting and photovoltaic devices, and co-founded Cambridge Display Technology to exploit the technology.  He subsequently became a CSIRO Fellow, a University of Melbourne Laureate Professor, Distinguished Research Fellow at Imperial College and was the Newton Abraham Visiting Professor, University of Oxford in 2011-12. In May, 2000 he was elected FRS.  He was elected FAA in March 2006 and FTSE in November 2006. He was President of the Australian Academy of Science (2014-2018).