Andrew is a soil microbiologist at Rothamsted Research, North Wyke, Devon, UK. His research takes a fresh look at microbiome evolution and function in dynamic soil systems, demonstrating complex interactions between physical soil structure and microbiome metabolism. With significant implications for nutrient and water management in soils, and greenhouse gas emissions, extension and testing of these theories in agricultural soils in different geographical regions is an important step to establishing a common theory of soil system function—revealing the extent to which geographically distant soil microbiomes share genetic complementarity and common responses to soil management.