His research group exploits various genomic and laboratory techniques to understand how antimicrobial resistant bacterial emerge, spread, and how best they can be combated.
His scientific leadership experience stems from running large complex research groups with people from multiple backgrounds, leading international projects, receiving appointments to international funding committees (Gates Foundation, Wellcome etc.), and sitting on and chairing institutional committees.
He has raised more than £20 million in research funding since 2012. This includes funding from major donors (Wellcome, Gates Foundation), industry (GSK, Medicines for Malaria), competitive strategic funding from academic organisations (Wellcome, Sanger Institute, University of Cambridge) and the UK Government via the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre.
Teaching, supervision, and capacity building are some of his strengths; Stephen regularly gives lectures, seminars, and workshops, having supervised a range of students (at different levels) from a variety of international institutions.
Stephen aims to interact with both the scientific community and the public to communicate scientific findings. He has given multiple lectures and talks at various international meetings and organisations, and regularly invested to present at key international conferences. He has been involved in several public engagement projects.
Having already published over 400 scientific articles, with a current h index of 78, Stephen regularly contributes to articles published in European newspapers, gives talks to the public, and features on television, radio, and various science news-related websites.