Ruth has worked at RBGE for over 30 years, starting her career as an Assistance Scientific Officer in the lab and Cryptogam section of the Herbarium. With the formation of the Scientific and Technical Services (STS) section in 1992, she moved away from the Herbarium to become the General Lab Manager. At this time government funding allowed us to set up a new suite of laboratories and a move into the field of Molecular Biology.

Currently Ruth manages the laboratory facilities and equipment, with main responsibility for the non-molecular areas of research. A flexible approach to lab management is essential to accommodate the many and varied projects but with Health and Safety always a priority.

Ruth plays a central role in procurement, from general lab stocks to capital equipment and specialises in the redevelopment of areas into new labs or the refurbishment of existing labs. She is also involved in the training of new and existing lab users. During Ruth's career at RBGE she has gained experience in most of the techniques employed throughout the labs. In more recent years she has collaborated on molecular research projects on the genera Inga and Begonia, generating and editing sequence data for large phylogenies. She is also conducting an ongoing study into the best methods for field collecting and subsequent storage of plant material to maintain DNA integrity.

Notable recent publications:

Ripe for reassessment: a synthesis of available molecular data for the speciose diatom family Bacillariaceae. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 158, May 2021, 106985. David G Mann, Rosa Trobajo, Shinya Sato, Chunlian Li, Andrzej Witkowski, Frederic Rimet, Matt P. Ashworth, Ruth Hollands, Edward C. Theriot. 

A Revision of Gagnepainia and Hemiorchis (Globbeae: Zingiberaceae). Edinburgh Journal of Botany, Volume 77 Issue 3, June 2020. S. Tan, R. Hollands, M. Pavlikova, T.Fer & M. F. Newman. 

Dividing and Conquering the Fastest Growing Genus: Towards a Natural Sectional Classification of the mega-diverse genus Begonia (Begoniaceae). Taxon, Volume 67 Issue 2, pages 267 – 323, 2018. Peter Moonlight et al. 

Dispersal assembly of rain forest tree communities across the Amazon basin. PNAS, Volume 114 no. 10, pages 2645-2650, March 2017. Toby Pennington, Kyle Dexter, Phyllis Coley, Camilla Drake, Ruth Hollands, Thomas Kursar, Matt Lavin, Benjamin Torke, Alex Twyford.

Continental-scale diversification patterns in a megadiverse genus: the biogeography of Neotropical Begonia. Journal of Biogeography, Volume 42, Issue 6, pages 1137-1149, June 2015. Peter W. Moonlight, James E. Richardson, Mark C. Tebbit, Daniel C. Thomas, Ruth Hollands, Ching-I Peng & Mark Hughes