Daphne Vince-Prue graduated from the University of London (Wye College) and did postgraduate work in plant physiology at UC Berkeley. She obtained her doctorates at the Universities of Reading and London, and subsequently taught plant physiology to students of horticulture and botany at Reading for most of her career. She has also been a Scientific Adviser and later Head of the Physiology and Chemistry Division at the Glasshouse Crops Research Institute for the Agricultural Research Council. Since her retirement in 1986 she has maintained contacts with research groups working in photoperiodism, and continues her interest in horticulture as a committee member of the Royal Horticultural Society.