Janet Sprent

Janet Irene Sprent, FRSE OBE (born 1934) is a British botanical scientist, and emeritus professor at University of Dundee.

After graduating from Imperial College London with a BSc and ARCS, Sprent worked for a year at Rothamsted Experimental Station before undertaking a PhD at the University of Tasmania. She taught botany for two years at Rochester Grammar School before being awarded a lectureship at Goldsmiths College in 1960. Sprent moved to Dundee, Scotland in 1967 where she secured a research fellowship at the University of Dundee. She became dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering in 1987, was awarded a personal chair in 1989 and served as the Head of Department of Biological Sciences from 1992 to 1995. She served as deputy principal of Dundee University from 1995 until her retiral in 1998.

Sprent's primary research interests lie in the field of nitrogen fixation in legumes.

In recognition of the contribution she has made to the understanding of nitrogen fixation in legume symbioses Sprent was awarded with a Doctor of Science degree by the University of London and an honorary PhD from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. She was awarded an OBE in 1996 and in 2013, the nitrogen fixing bacterium Burkholderia sprentiae was named after her.