Jeffery Errington is a distinguished Biomedical Scientist and Director of the Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, University of Newcastle. He has been addressing problems of bacterial function, structure and genetics through the study of the model of Bacillus subtilis for almost twenty years. Using this model Professor Errington has made important contributions to understanding wider problems of cell division and chromosome segregation. One of the main contributions of his group has been the discovery that bacterial cells, like eukaryotic cells, contained actin, which helps determine cell structure through the cytoskeleton. In 2005, returning to Newcastle, he took up the challenge of developing an outstanding Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences within the Medical Faculty and is already attracting first rate international scientists to join him. This year he has been co-organiser of a Gordon Conference in the USA and he has given countless lectures all over the world. He was elected a full member of EMBO in 2004 and a fellow of the Royal Society in 2003 and we welcome him to our Academy today.