At Bristol he led the Department of Zoology, and subsequently the School of Biological Sciences, for 15 years from 1978 until early 1993. In the eighties he was appointed to the Council of the AFRC/BBSRC and in the late eighties to the UFC (Universities Funding Council) and its subsequent body - HEFCE (Higher Education Funding Council for England). He also served on the Council of London Zoo (and Bristol Zoo) and as a Trustee of the Natural History Museum. He was elected to the Royal Society in 1984 and became their Biological Secretary for six years (a part-time unpaid post) during which time he implemented changes to the organisation and was able to expand greatly the Royal Society University Fellowship scheme. He was knighted in 1992.