Simon Hird was born on 21st August 1964, in Kingsand, England. After graduating in 1986, he stayed on at the University of Plymouth to complete his PhD thesis, “Characterisation and geochemical fate of highly branched isoprenoids”, in 1992. In 1990 he joined M-Scan Ltd near Ascot as Senior Environmental Chemist involved with contract research, analytical services, consultancy and training based on mass spectrometry and chromatography. He joined the Central Science Laboratory in 1995, where he has been involved in hydrocarbon analysis related to oil spills, pesticide residue analysis using a variety of mass spectrometers coupled to LC and GC and food authenticity research involving isotope ratio mass spectrometry and most recently managing a section responsible for LC-MS analysis. CSL, now the Food and Environment Research Agency, is a UK public sector science organisation providing research and information services to governments and industry around the world, focusing on protecting environmental quality, developing sustainable land uses and safeguarding food chain safety.