Stearn was appointed Sandars Reader in Bibliography, University of Cambridge in 1965 and from 1977 to 1983 he was visiting professor at Cambridge University's Department of Botany, and also Visiting Professor in Botany at Reading University 1977–1983, and then Honorary Research Fellow (1983–).[67] He was also a fellow of the Institute of Biology (1967) and honorary fellow, Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.[1]