Essential Oil Resource Consultants Homepage

Bonjour! We are Bob and Rhiannon Harris of Essential Oil Resource Consultants

Our main aims are to promote the professional and safe use of essential oils and aromatic products through our in-class training, publications and distance learning material. We lecture in many countries and in addition, hold classes for individual colleges and essential oil tours in the mountainous regions surrounding our home. Aromatherapists from all over the world attend our EORC Aromatic Adventures that run through the summer months in Provence.

We currently live in a tranquil village in the mountains of the Haut Var region of Provence. Here, we have access to modern and spacious teaching facilities and are within easy reach of the perfume capital of Grasse and Nice Côte d’Azur international airport. The locality supports many wild aromatic plant species and we are only a short distance from the famous cultivated lavender and lavandin fields.
As a team, we travel widely, holding educational seminars and courses in countries such as the UK, Finland, Israel, Japan, Canada and the United States. Our unique approach combines traditional holistic aromatherapy with French medical doctrines. Bob, as author and compiler of The Essential Oil Resource, ensures that the information presented in class is current and as accurate as possible, drawing upon research as the foundation of class lecture material. Rhiannon is an experienced lecturer in the field of aromatherapy and essential oils and is known for her effective teaching style. She incorporates Bob's research-based information within a logical and practitioner-orientated approach that ensures that the classes are both enjoyable and informative. We also contribute regular research-based articles to international journals of aromatherapy and complementary medicine.

In 1997, we moved our base to France to study and work with physicians and pharmacists involved in medical aromatherapy. Here we extended our therapeutic experience of medical aromatherapy and gained a broad, yet precise understanding of the full clinical potential of essential oils.

Our professional involvement in the field of aromatherapy and essential oils began in 1989. At this time Rhiannon, formerly a senior nurse, qualified in the UK and became a member of the International Federation of Aromatherapists. She worked as a clinical aromatherapist for six years, operating three busy practices in close association with local doctors. Over the years, she has taught both holistic and clinical aromatherapy courses for leading colleges both in the UK and abroad and has extended her qualifications to include other complementary therapies. She has undertaken further advanced studies in essential oils at Purdue University, Indiana and has also gained a teaching qualification. Her first book, 'Becoming an Aromatherapist' is now in its second edition.

Bob, with his background of medical microbiology, has always been interested in the scientific aspect of aromatherapy. In 1993 he started what was to become The Essential Oil Resource, the leading research database concerning the properties of essential oils. He is a member of the Institute of Biomedical Science and is the Scientific Adviser for the International Federation of Professional Aromatherapists. He is also on the scientific committees of several leading French essential oil companies and is a member of the Comite Scientifique pour la Promotion de l'Aromatherapie, based in Paris.

In mid-2000, Bob replaced Robert Tisserand as the editor of the International Journal of Aromatherapy. This is the longest running scientific, peer reviewed professional aromatherapy publication in the world. Since 2007, the IJA is published under a new title, the International Journal of Essential Oil Therapeutics. Additionally, Bob is also scientific consultant for the new practitioner-orientated International Journal of Clinical Aromatherapy, of which Rhiannon is editor.

Bob has been awarded a Diploma in Distance Education by the European Association of Distance Learning, qualifying him to write, edit and administer distance education courses.