Marchant began working for the Western Australian Herbarium at the age of 15, as a laboratory assistant to Government Botanist
Charles Gardner. Later he attended the
University of Western Australia, graduating in 1962. He taught for a short time, including under Professor
Brian Grieve, before taking up a scholarship to study at
Cambridge University. After attaining a PhD in plant taxonomy, he won a position on the staff of the Western Australian Herbarium, which he took up in 1970. In 2001 and 2002 he was
Australian Botanical Liaison Officer at the
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
He was involved in the development of
FloraBase, and the establishment of regional herbaria. He was also a driving force behind
Botany 2000. He is an author of the 1987 book Flora of the Perth region[1] and the 2002 book Flora of the South West,[2] and has also published on the history of the Herbarium.[3] His research interests include the genus Drosera.
^Wheeler, Judy, Neville Marchant and Margaret Lewington; with assistance from Lorraine Graham. Flora of the South West : Bunbury - Augusta - Denmark Canberra, A.C.T. : Australian Biological Resources Study and Western Australia Herbarium, Department of Conservation and Land Management, in association with University of Western Australia Press. (Flora of Australia supplementary series, 1323-2169; no. 12)
ISBN0-642-56814-6 (series no. 12, v.1,
ISBN0-642-56815-4 (series no. 12, v.2),
ISBN0-642-56816-2 (set)
^Marchant, N. G. (2005) Documenting a flora.
(History of the Herbarium) Early days (1970), Vol. 12, Part 5 (2005), p.566-583
^Kondratyuk, S.Y.;
Lőkös, L.;
Upreti, D.K.;
Nayaka, S.; Mishra, G.K.; Ravera, S.; Jeong, M.-H.; Jang, S.-H.; Park, J.S.; Hur, J.S. (2017). "New monophyletic branches of the Teloschistaceae (lichen-forming Ascomycota) proved by three gene phylogeny". Acta Botanica Hungarica. 59 (1–2): 71–136 [111].
doi:
10.1556/034.59.2017.1-2.6.
hdl:10447/414429.
^Kondratyuk, Sergij Y.; Kärnefelt, Ingvar; Elix, John A.; Thell, Arne (2007). "New species of the genus Caloplaca in Australia". In Kärnefelt, Ingvar; Thell, Arne (eds.). Lichenological Contributions in Honour of David Galloway. Bibliotheca Lichenologica. Vol. 95. J.Cramer. pp. 341–386.
ISBN978-3-443-58074-2.