Ph.D. in Botany from university of Natal, South Africa in 1970. He is the director of the Research Centre for Plant Growth and Development, University of Natal, South Africa. His research field includes plant hormones, biostimulants, seed germination, senescence, stress physiology, post-harvest physiology, biotechnology and plant tissue culture, ethnobotany, secondary products and ethnomedicine. Prof Van Staden has supervised 82 MSc and 100 Ph.D. students and 70 Post-Docs. He is the author/co-author of more than 1400 papers which have been published in ISI rated journals. He has a number of publications that qualify as ‘citation classics’ (over 100 citations). Prof Van Staden is former Editor-in-Chief of the South African Journal of Botany.