Hugh Brammer (M.A. Geography, Cambridge University, 1951) spent 23 years working on soil surveys in the Gold Coast/Ghana, East Pakistan and Zambia before serving as FAO agricultural development adviser to the Bangladesh Ministry of Agriculture 1974−1987. He then worked as a consultant for FAO and the World Bank until 1995, including for Bangladesh’s Flood Policy Study (1989), Flood Action Plan (1989−95) and Greenhouse Effects Study (1992). He subsequently wrote nine books on soils, agriculture and disaster management in Bangladesh, published by UPL, and he has continued to publish journal articles on soils and agricultural development in Bangladesh. In 2006, Mr Brammer initiated a global study of arsenic in groundwater in the Geography Department, University of Cambridge, that culminated in the publication of a book and several journal articles. Since 2007, he has assisted a study to produce a guideline on the use and interpretation of pre-partition maps of Bengal held in British museums and libraries. Mr Brammer was awarded the Bangladesh President’s Gold Medal for Agriculture in 1979, FAO’s B.R. Sen Award in 1981, the Order of the British Empire (O.B.E.) by the British Government in 1987 and the Royal Geographical Society’s Busk Medal for Scientific Discovery and Research in 2006.