Chris Cannings is Head of the Section of Genetics and Informatics and Director of the Centre for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology in the Division of Genomic Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Sheffield. He has previously held posts at the Universities of Aberdeen and Pavia, and visiting positions at Stanford, Cambridge, Houston and Utah. His research has focused on mathematical problems in biology, including such topics as the dynamics of genetic selection models, models of genetic drift, ascertainment, and algorithms for pedigree analysis, mathematical theory of evolutionary conflicts, theory of identity states and random graphs, protein interaction nets. Current research emphasis is on IBD, generalisation of the classical random graph and application to genealogies and interaction nets. There is also continuing involvement with studies of recombination, genetic associations with disease susceptibility and severity (e.g. with HepC, meningococcal infection) and various family studies. He is co-editor of "The Handbook of Statistical Genetics" (Wiley, 2003).