BILL Gates saw fit to grant his research $11m and now the Queen has bestowed the Order of the British Empire upon him.

Scientist Dr John Sheehy from Marlow has been celebrating a particularly happy New Year after receiving confirmation his work has earned him a place on the honours list.

The 69-year-old former coach and player at Marlow Rugby Club has been at the centre of a project funded by Microsoft boss Mr Gate's charitable foundation.

Before retiring in October he worked on a scheme to produce a highly productive strain of rice which is resistant to climate change.

The Barley Road resident has spent the past 16 years working in Asia developing high yield crops to feed the billions of hungry people in the developing world.

Rising temperatures threaten to significantly reduce yields, with an increase of just two or three degrees Celsius in some places possibly enough to prompt a fall of about 50 per cent, he said.

Now, he has been awarded an OBE for his work services to Agricultural Science and Development.

Dr Sheehy got a letter in November saying he had been put forward and asking if he would accept the gong.

“I was worried that I had ticket the wrong box and had refused the honour,” he told the Marlow Free Press.

“But it was fantastic, I was surprised, humbled and honoured.

“What I'm really hoping is that we get a trip to Buckingham Palace, I will go with my wife and two daughters. It would be wonderful.”

His spouse, Gaynor, a former teacher at Marlow Church of England School in Sandygate Road of 15 years and vice-chair of Bovingdon Green Women's Institute, is excited by the prospect too, he said.

His profession has taken him across the world to far flung places, from countries in Asia to Africa.

“Not for a minute did I think these things would happen in my career when I started out,” he said.

But his main hope is that billions of people will be aided by his research.

“This Gates funded project will revolutionise food production in the developing world,” he said.

The Marlow resident of over 40 years began his career in the Grassland and Environment Research Institute at Hurley and has also spent time lecturing in the Business School at Bucks College.