As a plant scientist and curator of plant genetic resources (PGR), my mission is the conservation, management, characterisation and promotion and subsequent utilisation of these resources. The public ex-situ collections under my charge are seed collections of arable crops and their wild relatives. These include the BBSRC Small Grain Cereal Collections and the JI Pisum Collection (GRU). Seeds are stored under medium term storage conditions of 1.50C and 10%RH. The collections are based at a research institute where they benefit from being integrated into a range of applied and fundamental projects. My job combines curation and active research associated with the collections and entails extensive collaborations across a range of stakeholder groups which include, commercial breeders, farmers and growers, museum curators, archeologists, schools to exhibition and agricultural show organisers. Clearly no collection works alone. PGR collections in the UK are decentralised around different institutions, each of which is involved in European PGR networks through which regional initiatives and responsibilities to international agreements are coordinated.