Growing Health - bio-inspired solutions for healthier agroecosystems: Understanding biointeractions
Lead Research Organisation:
Rothamsted Research
Department Name: UNLISTED
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Technical Summary
WP1 builds on RRes’ research and bespoke experimental platforms to increase our functional understanding of organismal biology above- and below-ground. WP1 focuses on key genome-sequenced target pests and beneficials of UK agricultural importance. The overall aim is to harness intra- and inter-kingdom biointeractions to improve wider agroecosystem health within a range of cropping systems (Sub-WP1.1) and during cropping transitions (Sub-WP1.2). Outcomes & Impact: WP1 will inform novel sustainable bioprotection strategies (with Sub-WP2.1) and provide data for multi-scale models to inform decision making (with Sub-WP3.1).
Planned Impact
unavailable
Organisations
- Rothamsted Research (Lead Research Organisation)
- UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD (Collaboration)
- Rothamsted Research (Collaboration)
- University of Hertfordshire (Collaboration)
- University of Warwick (Collaboration)
- National Institute of Agronomy and Botany (NIAB) (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF EXETER (Collaboration)
- French National Institute of Agricultural Research (Collaboration)
Publications

Ahmadnia F
(2024)
Evaluation of techniques to break seed dormancy in Redroot pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus).
in Food science & nutrition


Blyth H
(2023)
Fungal plant pathogen "mutagenomics" reveals tagged and untagged mutations in Zymoseptoria tritici and identifies SSK2 as key morphogenesis and stress-responsive virulence factor
in Frontiers in Plant Science

Borg AN
(2024)
Characterisation of aphid antixenosis in aphid-resistant ancestor wheat, Triticum monococcum.
in Pest management science

Cai L
(2023)
The blackgrass genome reveals patterns of non-parallel evolution of polygenic herbicide resistance
in New Phytologist

Cao X
(2024)
Spray-induced gene silencing as a potential tool to control rubber tree powdery mildew disease
in Physiological and Molecular Plant Pathology

Cascone P
(2023)
Small volatile lipophilic molecules induced belowground by aphid attack elicit a defensive response in neighbouring un-infested plants
in Frontiers in Plant Science



Cuzick A
(2023)
A framework for community curation of interspecies interactions literature
in eLife
Description | Began three-year term on Science Advisory Board of RESAS (Rural & Environmental Science and Analytical Services), for the Scottish Government |
Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
Impact | Beginning of the 3 year term. |
Description | ARABLE: Field evaluation of synthetic blends of semiochemicals for monitoring and control of wireworms |
Amount | £44,975 (GBP) |
Funding ID | BB/X011909/1 |
Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 04/2023 |
End | 11/2023 |
Description | ARABLE: Monitoring for emerging threats to UK OSR crops posed by novel variants and fungicide resistant strains of fungal pathogens |
Amount | £49,400 (GBP) |
Funding ID | BB/X011917/1 |
Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2023 |
End | 06/2023 |
Description | Bactobio - High-throughput discovery of natural product fungicides targeting Phytophthora infestans |
Amount | £20,123 (GBP) |
Organisation | Crop Health and Protection |
Sector | Private |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 08/2023 |
End | 12/2023 |
Description | Future Agri-Food Systems: One crop health for next generation crop protection |
Amount | 60,000,000 kr. (DKK) |
Organisation | Novo Nordisk Foundation |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | Denmark |
Start | 01/2024 |
End | 12/2029 |
Description | Guidance on measuring soil organic carbon to the implementation partners running Unilever's regenerative agriculture projects |
Amount | £45,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | N/A |
Organisation | Unilever |
Sector | Private |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 12/2023 |
End | 03/2024 |
Description | Investigating fungal spore dispersal in UK arable crop systems under current and future environmental conditions |
Amount | £61,760 (GBP) |
Organisation | Perry Foundation |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2023 |
End | 10/2027 |
Description | RRes-Brazil partnership for protecting crops against bacterial / viral plant diseases and associated vectors |
Amount | £10,914 (GBP) |
Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2024 |
End | 05/2024 |
Description | Sclerotinia spore monitoring 2024 |
Amount | £14,240 (GBP) |
Organisation | Agricultural and Horticulture Development Board |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2024 |
End | 05/2024 |
Title | PHI-Canto: Annotating a gene-for-gene interaction |
Description | PHI-Canto: Annotating a gene-for-gene interaction. This is a specific type of host-pathogen interaction that determines the overall outcome of the interaction namely the resistance or susceptibility of the host and the ability of the pathogen to cause disease or not. |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2023 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | The authors of a relevant peer reviewed publication can curate their complicated data sets directly into the PHI-base database using the PHI-Canto tool. |
URL | https://youtu.be/_og3umfy4WU |
Title | PHI-Canto: Annotating an inverse gene-for-gene interaction |
Description | PHI-Canto: Annotating an inverse gene-for-gene interaction into the PHI-base database. https://youtu.be/KKhomX11TMs |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2023 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | The authors of a relevant peer reviewed publication can curate their complicated data sets directly into the PHI-base database using the PHI-Canto tool. The are genetically the rarer interaction types compared to gene-for-gene interaction types. |
URL | https://youtu.be/KKhomX11TMs |
Title | PHI-Canto: Why should I contribute? |
Description | PHI-Canto: the personal and professional benefits to authors of contributing a peer reviewed article using this community curation tool https://youtu.be/QQGZBnUYZcA |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2023 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Soon after publication, more authors will spend the time curating their research articles via PHI-Canto into the PHI-base database |
URL | https://youtu.be/QQGZBnUYZcA |
Title | Protocol to replicate waterlogging in greenhouse |
Description | Optimised a protocol to impose waterlogging stress early in development for wheat cultivars and weed biotypes |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2024 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Waterlogging stress is difficult to impose and difficult to control in the field, so having a glasshouse based method allows for additional replicability and reproducibility. |
Title | The Pathogen-Host Interactions Database (PHI-base) |
Description | This is described in the Wikipedia entry - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PHI-base |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | PHI-base makes two data releases per annum in May and November. In the reporting period the following has occurred The latest release of PHI-base, version 4.15, was on 2 May 2023 (http://www.phi-base.org/releaseNote.htm). Compared to version 4.14, released on 1 November 2022, the increase in data is: 384 genes, 1,069 interactions, 237 publications, 2 new pathogens, and 2 new hosts. The number of diseases was reduced by one, due to data cleaning efforts removing redundant and incorrect disease names. We continue to freely share phenotyping data with Ensembl ( since 2011), FungiDB (since 2019) and UniProtKB (since 2020). UK and international resource usage trends: PHI-base > 25,800 and > 1007 full database downloads, > 6,000 unique users and > 400 registered API users. Total users > 119,700 during the reporting period April 2023-March 2024. |
URL | http://www.phi-base.org/ |
Title | Video - PHI-Canto: Choosing a suitable publication |
Description | PHI-Canto: Choosing a suitable publication https://youtu.be/J6z4MlU8Bkc |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2023 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | How to select an in scope publication for author curation using the community curation tool - PHI-Canto |
URL | https://youtu.be/J6z4MlU8Bkc |
Title | Video - PHI-Canto: Introduction to PHI-base |
Description | https://youtu.be/5GlKRM9qshk |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2023 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Improved understanding of what PHI-base is about for first time users of the database |
URL | https://youtu.be/5GlKRM9qshk |
Title | Alopecurus myosuroides Genome sequencing and assembly |
Description | The authors presented a high-quality reference genome of blackgrass. They analyzed genome structure and function to infer genomic features that may predispose blackgrass to the rapid evolution of weediness. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2024 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Alopecurus myosuroides (blackgrass) is a widespread and impactful weed affecting agriculture in Europe. Through the blackgrass genome has been possible to reveal patterns of non-parallel avolution of polygenic herbicide resistance [10.1111/nph.18655]. This genome dataset has an Accession PRJNA889547 |
URL | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/?term=PRJNA889547 |
Title | Aphid endosymbiont genomic datasets |
Description | Genome sequencing results of aphid endosymbionts |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2023 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Aphid endosymbiont population dynamics |
Title | Comparative transcriptomic analyses of black grass (Alopecurus myosuroides) and bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) response to waterlogging |
Description | Transcriptome sequence reads deposited at National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) as BioProject PRJNA1009248 |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2024 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | Better understanding of "The mechanisms behind the contrasting responses to waterlogging in black-grass (Alopecurus myosuroides) and wheat (Triticum aestivum)" - recently accepted for publication by Functional Plant Biology: Corresponding Author: Dana McGregor |
Description | Apoplastic proteomics and activity testing |
Organisation | National Institute of Agronomy and Botany (NIAB) |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Generating apoplastic fluids from infected wheat plants |
Collaborator Contribution | Enzyme activity testing and effector protein inhibitor modelling |
Impact | PhD student poster |
Start Year | 2023 |
Description | Apoplastic proteomics and activity testing |
Organisation | University of Oxford |
Department | Oxford Hub |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Generating apoplastic fluids from infected wheat plants |
Collaborator Contribution | Enzyme activity testing and effector protein inhibitor modelling |
Impact | PhD student poster |
Start Year | 2023 |
Description | PhD studentship: Investigating fungal spore production in UK arable crop systems under current and future environmental conditions |
Organisation | University of Hertfordshire |
Department | School of Life and Medical Sciences |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | This is a PhD studentship supervised by Rothamsted Research and the University of Hertfordshire. It is funded jointly the Perry Foundation and the Morley Agricultural Foundation. |
Collaborator Contribution | PhD supervision provided by supervisors (aerobiology, spore trapping, epidemiology, metabarcoding etc.) |
Impact | PhD studentship ongoing |
Start Year | 2023 |
Description | SWBiO collaboration on fungal cell walls |
Organisation | University of Exeter |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Building from joint BBSRC PhD project we are assembling new data towards joint funding application. |
Collaborator Contribution | Building from joint BBSRC PhD project we are assembling new data towards joint funding application. |
Impact | A PhD thesis and two published papers |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | WGIN 4 (defra) Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus variant monitoring in oat crop (Lawrence Bramham) |
Organisation | Rothamsted Research |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | WP1 - Crop Transition experiment. In the establishment year both trial sites were drilled to winter oats. Both sites subsequently developed BYDV symptoms due to natural infections. One of the aims of the GH CT experiment is to explore the unintentional agricultural risks associated with growing oat crops in an arable rotation within the main wheat growing region in the UK. |
Collaborator Contribution | These two GH CT trial sites were used extensively for virus sampling and sequencing to identify the BYDV variants present and to determine whether other cereal virus species were present in the oat crop. |
Impact | The collaborator Lawrence Bramham (WGIN 4) has already reported his 2023 BYDV stain variant findings to the AgIndustry at a AICC meeting in Birmingham in Jan 2024. |
Start Year | 2023 |
Description | WP1 Crop Transitions Experiment - Surveying the worm populations using new methodologies |
Organisation | University of Warwick |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The designing of the GH Crop Transitions large plot experiments with six different UK crop rotation in two locations on the Rothamsted experimental farm. Free access to the University of Warwick worm team and soil acoustic team every month to permit worm sampling from each of the 42 plots and soil acoustic recordings. The collect worms are also take away for species identification and further acoustic analyses. |
Collaborator Contribution | Monthly quantitative worm sampling throughout the year for each plot Monthly acoustic recordings of soil to detect worm movement and the movement of other invertebrates Worm species identification Acoustic recordings for each species |
Impact | Journalist Phoebe Weston and photographer from the Guardian Newspaper visited Rothamsted and the GH Trial to discuss with PIs Jackie Stroud rom The University of Warwick, Carlos Abrahams from Baker Consultants and the Rothamsted PI Kim Hammond-Kosack who devised the GH Crop Transitions Experiment the worm acoustic project. The outcome will be a either a paper or online article on entitled ' Listening to the Soil' and the GH Crop Transitions Experiment which will be published in April 2024. |
Start Year | 2023 |
Description | Zymoseptoria genome re-annotation |
Organisation | French National Institute of Agricultural Research |
Country | France |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | We provided a reference genome re-annotation to intercompare with others |
Collaborator Contribution | They intercompared numerous gene set predictions |
Impact | Community manuscript under review and a public data release |
Start Year | 2022 |
Description | "10 minute presentation at the Royal Society of Biology Plant Health Summer Conference 2023 " |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | 10 minute presentation to update the Royal Society of Biology members on the research which had been undertaken as part of the Plant Health Undergraduate Studentship which we were awarded in 2022. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | "ACS Fall Meeting: Harnessing Chemical Ecology to achieve Food Security " |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | "Lisa Humbert presented her PhD studies at ACS Fall Meeting: Harnessing Chemical Ecology to achieve Food Security " |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | "ACS Fall Meeting: Harnessing Chemical Ecology to achieve Food Security " |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Gave an oral presentation at this symposium, as well as co-organised the symposium, and chaired the session(s). Follow on from the meeting led to organising a special issue in Pest Management Science. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/pb-assets/assets/page/journal/15264998/Special%20Issue%20Call%20for%... |
Description | "Invited seminar, Entomological Society of Ireland (online) " |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Presentation on BAC-STOP/Growing Health related work on Acute Oak Decline (title: using the odour of bacteria to tackle acute oak decline). |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
Description | "Invited visit and seminar at Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Chemical Ecology group " |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | I gave a seminar to Professor Peter Witzgalls research group in SLU, Alnarp, who are interested in microbial chemical ecology/chemical ecology in relation to forest pests. This included a tour of the labs and meeting other researchers within the institute. As a result, I have made connections, and am in touch with these researchers, with potential plans for future activities. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | "Online presentation to 22 schools about trees: 'Protecting trees from pests and disease' " |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Approached by a STEM worker to give an online presentation to schools (years 5 and 6) across the east of England, around the topic of trees. Total number of attendees: 1548 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
Description | "Presentation at NEW-IPM ONE HEALTH conference, SWANSEA UNIVERSITY, 5-7 September 2023 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | "Presentation at the NEW-IPM ONE HEALTH conference, SWANSEA UNIVERSITY, 5-7 September 2023 https://www.swansea.ac.uk/bioscience/research-and-impact/natural-products-biohub-project/naturalproductsbiohub-project-news-and-events/new-ipm-2023---one-health/ |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.swansea.ac.uk/bioscience/research-and-impact/natural-products-biohub-project/naturalprod... |
Description | "Presented a 15 minute presentation as part of the Plant health day webinar, organised by Rothamsted Research " |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Invitation from Georgia Mitrousia to present our research on acute oak decline at a plant health webinar, as part of international plant health day |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | "UKRI panel membership: UKRI-NERC Equitable nature-based climate resilience in Sub-Saharan Africa (Sept.-Nov. 2023) " |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Supporters |
Results and Impact | "Grant panel activities, reviewing/ranking proposals" |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | 4th Plant Microbiome Symposium 2023 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Presentation at 4th Plant Microbiome Symposium 2023 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | 70th Plant Protection Days of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Presented talk on the impact of gut endosymbiont-emitted volatiles on Anastrepha fraterculus chemical ecology. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
Description | ABC Radio (Australia) South Australia Country Hour interview on 22 Nov 2023 - (Ist 11.20 minutes out of 55 minute show). |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | ABC Radio (Australia) South Australia Country Hour interview on 22 Nov 2023 -https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/sa-country-hour/sa-country-hour/103116490 (Ist 11.20 minutes out of 55 minute show). |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/sa-country-hour/sa-country-hour/103116490 |
Description | AI in Chemistry Conference Organiser (Treasurer) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Help to organiser an annual conference held. I am the treasurer |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Article in Farmers weekly, "Research targets pheromones to control key arable pests", 17/10/2023 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Article in Farmers weekly, "Research targets pheromones to control key arable pests", 17/10/2023 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Article written for Country File Magazine |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Angela Karp was approached by Daniel Graham for an article on blackgrass for the BBC Countryfile Magazine - James Clark composed the article after a discussion and I and David Comont edited it before it went to the magazine editors. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
URL | https://www.countryfile.com/environment/blackgrass-problems-solutions |
Description | Attended SCI Agriscience committee meeting- ongoing |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | SCI Agriscience committee meeting. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | BCPC Diseases Review, 17 Oct 2023 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Co-organised the BCPC Diseases conference, held at the NIAB Park Farm site, 17 Oct 2023 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.bcpc.org/events/bcpc-diseases-review-2023 |
Description | BES Task and Finish group - International equity in ecological research plan development for BES |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Personal invitation to meetings with senior personnel of the BES discussing pathways to make science and ecological research more equitable across the world starting with the BES and its publishing journals |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | BPD programme meeting |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Bacterial Plant Diseases programme meeting |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
URL | https://padlet.com/sarahmclusky/bpd-projects-meeting-4-6-march-2024-jm47l2i6sun6iu1f |
Description | BSPP-AAB Plant Pathology 2023 conference |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Keynote invited presentation and session chair at BSPP-AAB Plant Pathology 2023 conference, Edgbaston, Birmingham, 6th - 8th September 2023 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.bspp.org.uk/conferences/plant-pathology-2023/ |
Description | Biology in Action - British Science Week |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | As part of the Biology in Action day during British Science Week March 2023, this presetnation was one of five interactive and engaging sessions delivered by renowned scientists and communicators aimed at inspiring and motivating A-level, IB, BTEC and GCSE students. This talk focused on Plants, which live in constant change and are ceaselessly challenged. Responding correctly to their surroundings helps them to survive and produce equally skilled seeds. We'll explore how they accomplish these feats and why plants deserve the title of "Nature's Super Survivors". |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://educationinaction.org.uk/study-day/biology-in-action-14-03-2023/ |
Description | Cereals 2023 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Attendee at Cereals 2023 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.farmersguide.co.uk/cereals-2023/ |
Description | Cereals 2023 Exhibit |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Exhibited project developments regarding methods to monitor airborne crop pathogens as part of Integrated Pest Management, to farmers, extension workers, Ag-chem industry and students over two days (13-14 June 2023). |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Conference presentation |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Gave a invited presentation to the British Society of Plant Pathology in Autumn 2023 - around 150 delegates (national/international). Following the talk, new discussions were had and collaborations formed, some of which will strengthen work undertaken as part of this RRes ISP |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Defra Visit: Prof Nicola Spence |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Acute Oak Decline, Emerald Ash Borer, Insect surveys and fungal spore monitoring, Sampling strategies for plant, wood, food imports- Potential development of volatiles, spore traps, air DNA sampling strategies. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Discussion with Joseph Onyeka Director of Research at National Root Crops Research Institute, Nigeria |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Visit of Joseph Onyeka, (Director of Research - External Funded Project Office at National Root Crops Research Institute, Nigeria) . We discussed plans of collaboration with Dr Julian Smith and other interested parties. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Discussion with NatureMetrics |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Met with representatives of NatureMetrics: Tom Ludwig (Sector Head Regenerative and Sustainable Agriculture), Andrew Briscoe (Head of Science), Tiffany Jedrecka (R&D Lead) to discuss eDNA applications and scope for R&D collaborations/grants. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | EWRS and IWGC Sponsored Weed Genomics Workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | The EWRS Working groups "Education & Training", "Weed Management in Mediterranean Cropping Systems" and "Herbicide Resistance" are organizing a 4-day in-depth training course on weed genomics in February/March 2023. The course will be supported by the International Weed Genomics Consortium (IWGC). The course is aimed at students, Ph.D. candidates and postdocs actively involved in research on weed genomics, weeds resistant to herbicides and weed stress. In this course, we will provide an overview of concepts and tools that can be used to access and analyze the genome of weed species and populations genetics. More specifically, the focus of the course will be on: 1. Introduction to genomic, IWGC, and herbicide resistance 2. Introduction to the IWGC database - Weedpedia 3. Genome sequence generation, analyses and specific questions 4. Transcriptome analyses, pitfalls and additional information 5. Other genomic technologies (e.g. QTL analyses, etc.) 6. Practical work exploring non-target site resistance and /or other weed traits Aside from deepening your scientific knowledge, this course also offers an excellent opportunity to broaden your network and to interact with established scientists. Additionally, students can be awarded 2 ECTS-credit points from Ondokuz Mayis University (Turkey) when successfully participating in the course. Lecturers Roland Beffa (Senior Scientist Consultant, Germany) Eric Patterson (Michigan State University, US) Dana MacGregor (Rothamsted Research, UK) Maor Matzrafi (Agricultural Research Organization - Volcani Institute, Israel) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.ewrs.org/en/info/Events/EWRS-and-IWGC-Training-course-ldquo-Weed-genomicsrdquo |
Description | Engagement with FC stakeholders about surveillance for EAB |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Had a meeting and provided information and a slide deck on surveillance for the Emerald Ash Borer to Katie Parker from the Forestry Commission. Katie is the Plant Health Forestry team's Contracts and Surveys Manager. She plan England's surveys for GB Priority and Quarantine Pests. FC with locations for EAB surveillance |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Engagement with ash tree researchers and stakeholders at FC and ObservaTree |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Engagement with ash tree researchers and stakeholders at FR and ObservaTree to discuss future collaboration and use of the SMARTIES models as well as new emerging research from ObservaTree and FR |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Ento `23 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Royal Entomological Society Annual Meeting: Ento `23, Exeter, UK poster (Semiochemical-based alternative concepts for the management of wireworms) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.royensoc.co.uk/event/ento23-speakers-chairs/ |
Description | Fungal meeting talk |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | British Mycological Society Annual Scientific Meeting - Fungal Interactions talk, Newcastle, UK (Leveraging antagonistic fungal interactions as biocontrol for destructive forest pathogens in the genus Armillaria) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Guest Lecture at University of Nottingham - Applied Crop Science course - topic = Weed Biology |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | "1) The world requires more food now and in the future. a) Modern agriculture is the key to delivering sufficient food. b) But the world has no more space to move into to generate more food. c) ILO1 = Therefore modern agriculture must be efficient and effective with the land we have. 2) What is needed for efficient and effective modern agriculture? a) Among the other needs (sunlight, air, water, nutrients, protection, time), plants need space - e.g. lack of competition from weeds. i) Rothamsted is working on research to understand how to meet these needs. b) ILO2 = Therefore, less weeds = more efficient agriculture = more food c) In the UK, black-grass is the major arable weed that impacts yields. 3) How to control weeds? a) Among the options is chemical control b) Modern agriculture has relied on chemical controls and they have been used extensively across the world. c) ILO3 = Modern agriculture that relies on chemical controls has selected for herbicide-resistant weeds. i) Herbicide resistance has evolved in many different species. ii) Herbicide resistance has appeared in many different crops. iii) Herbicide resistance occurs through TSR or NTSR d) How to control herbicide resistant weeds? i) Better understanding of weediness and weedy traits (1) ILO4 = Different mechanisms allow weeds to resist herbicides (a) Change in uptake of herbicide. (b) Change in localisation of herbicide away from target. (c) Change in the chemical structure of the herbicide. (d) Some combination of the above (e) Tools developed to test causation rather than correlation and functionally validate candidate genes. (2) ILO5 = different biological traits allow weeds to circumvent other control methods (a) Germinating after planting and dropping seeds before harvest is advantageous. (b) Being able to survive abiotic stress better than the crop is advantageous. (3) New approaches are needed " |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Hertfordshire County show |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Rothamsted Research stall at Hertfordshire County show |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Hosting the visit of three MPs currently serving on the cross party Parliament Science Technology and Innovation Select Committee |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | The three visiting MPs to Rothamsted in October 2023 were MPs Greg Clark, Katherine Fletcher & Stephen Metcalfe accompanied by secretary of the committee Dr Claire Kanja . Together they explored topics on increasing insecticide resistance, lack of alternative modes of action, the need for novel IPM strategies, the emergence of new pest and virus threats in the UK due to climate change/ lack of effective insecticides/ withdrawal of active ingredients. There was also a facilities tour including the suction traps used for the ongoing UK wide Rothamsted Insect Survey. The DSW participating members were Dr Lawrence Bramham (a DSW post-doctoral specialist in cereal-aphid-virus interactions) and his 3rd year DSW aligned BBSRC-SWBio DTP student Izayana Sandoval-Carvajal. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
Description | IWGC Weed Genomics workshop at The University of Western Australia and Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | I presented a 20 minute talk and answered questions at the 2023 Weed Genomics workshop held on Friday 22nd September at the University Club Formal Dining Room at The University of Western Australia. This workshop was hosted by the Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative in partnership with The Institute of Agriculture, UWA, and the International Weed Genomics Consortium. It was a face to face event which will provide attendees with a half-day session to enable more in-depth discussion of weed genomics following the PAG Australia weed genomics workshop on 21 September (see PAG Australia website for more details on the PAG workshop). Multiple scientists from inter-state and internationally were present in Perth with shared interests in weed genomics. The objectives were to explore opportunities and priorities for weed genomics research in Australia and beyond. The sessions consisted of several scientific presentations, building on and adding to those presented at the PAG workshop, and a round table discussion section. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1077525?eid=1077525& |
Description | Insect Behaviour SIG |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Convenor of Royal Entomological Society Insect behaviour SIG meeting: The role of microbes (environmental and endosymbionts) in insect behaviour, online. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.royensoc.co.uk/event/behaviour-sig-2023/ |
Description | Interview about ERGA pilot scheme |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Was interviewed by Amy Lyall at Earlham Institute for their website article on our contribution to the European Reference Genome Atlas (ERGA) project. I provided a quote about the work I am doing with them as a sample ambassador. "And Dr Dana MacGregor, Weed Molecular Biologist at Rothamsted Research, contributed plant material for orange foxtail. She says: "We have been studying Alopecurus aequalis (orange foxtail) and Alopecurus myosuroides (black-grass), which are the most problematic weeds for wheat cultivation in China and the UK respectively. "While we knew both species survive herbicide application, our understanding of how they accomplish this feat was limited. "Early in our research programme, we encountered a scientific roadblock. Despite successfully generating 'omics data, our inability to access a complete and annotated genome for both species hindered our ability to effectively interpret it. "Collaborating with the Earlham Institute on the ERGA Pilot project, we have generated a reference-grade genome for orange foxtail. This resource allows us to overcome our knowledge barriers and begin asking the questions that are crucial to understanding how these weeds survive. "Our new genome not only facilitates our research but - when made public - will empower other researchers to explore other molecular aspects of this insidious weed and together we will generate knowledge that results in effective and sustainable weed control."" |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
URL | https://www.earlham.ac.uk/articles/fish-fungus-grass-bee-and-brassica |
Description | Interview with Crop Production Magazine |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Asked to give an interview to Heather Briggs at the Crop Production Magazine about the recent presentation at AAB Presidents meeting on 'Nature-based and engineered biology solutions to climate mitigation' |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://issuu.com/kelseymedia/docs/cpm_april_2023/50 |
Description | Invited Key note presentation at VII Congress of the Latin American Association of Chemical Ecology (ALAEQ) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Key note presentation at VII Congress of the Latin American Association of Chemical Ecology (ALAEQ) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Invited Keynote presentation at Australasian Plant Pathology Society conference, 21 November 2023, Adelaide. |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Invited Keynote presentation at Australasian Plant Pathology Society conference, 21 November 2023, Adelaide. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://eventstudio.eventsair.com/apps2023/program |
Description | Invited oral presentation to the British Mycological Society annual meeting |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | Invited to present work on Septoria including new platform for antifungals discovery from microbes. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Invited presentation at a workshop held at Embrapa Biotechnology and Genetic Resources, Brazil. Funded via FAPDF |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | Invited presentation at a workshop to students and Embrapa Staff |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Invited speak to '21st Century Frontiers in Chemical Biology symposium' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Invited presentation at conference |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Invited speaker at the British Crop Production Council (BCPC) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Gave an invited presentation on Rothamsted's research on weeds and remote weed detection. Audience was other researchers (including ADAS, NIAB), ag-chem representatives, farming press, postgrad students, and regulatory bodies e.g. CRD, DEFRA It's a recurring annual meeting. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.bcpc.org/events/bcpc-weeds-review-2023 |
Description | Laboratory visits, invited seminars, and small-group discussions |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Funded by the listed projects, I travelled to the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) to give meet with undergraduates, post-graduates, and research scientists as well as to give a invited seminar within the post-graduate programme of Fitotechnica. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | MPs Visit: Environment, Food & Rural Affairs Committee roundtable discussion and tours. |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | MPs Visit: Environment, Food & Rural Affairs Committee roundtable discussion and tours. Threats & opportunities for soil health; ELMs & government support, research on healthy soils, including metrics & data. Lab tours, potential of microbiomes within farming practice, pathogen monitoring, healthy soils and ELMS. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Meetings with fellow researchers & Stakeholders in the BAC-STOP project. |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Stakeholder meeting |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | NEW-IPM ONE HEALTH |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | NEW-IPM ONE HEALTH, SWANSEA UNIVERSITY, 5-7 September 2023 (online presentation) https://www.swansea.ac.uk/bioscience/research-and-impact/natural-products-biohub-project/naturalproductsbiohub-project-news-and-events/new-ipm-2023---one-health/ |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | New IPM 2023 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | New IPM - One Health 2023 International Symposium and networking event talk, Swansea University, UK (Lure development for the stored legume pest, Acanthoscelides obtectus) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://international-pest-control.com/wordpress/event/new-ipm-2023-one-health/ |
Description | New Scientist Live Chemical Ecology display |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Presented at RRes Chemical Ecology Stand over the event timeline (3 days) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Nottingham University group visit 7 February 2024 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | About 35 undergraduate and postgraduate students visited Rothamsted Research on 7 February 2024 for presentations, discussion, Q&A |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
Description | Oxford Farming Conference |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Student helper at Oxford Farming Conference |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
URL | https://www.ofc.org.uk/conference/2024 |
Description | Participant in Roundtable Meeting and International Policy Dialogue on Agricultural Diversification, hosted by NIAB/University of Cambridge |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Supporters |
Results and Impact | Attendance and participation |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Poster Presentation at PAG (Plant and Animal Genomes) Australia |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Presented a Poster at PAG Australia entitled "A Comparative Genomics Approach to Investigate the Parallel Evolution of Weediness in Alopecurus Myosuroides (black-grass) and Alopecurus Aequalis (orange foxtail)" with me as first and presenting author along with Jonathan Wright2, Jun Li3, Paul Neve4, Seanna McTaggart5 and Anthony Hall2, (1)Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, (2)Earlham Institute, Norwich, United Kingdom, (3)Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, Jiangsu province, China, (4)University of Copenhagen, Taastrup, Taastrup, Denmark, (5)Earlham Institute, Norwich, Norfolk, United Kingdom. Presented at 2 poster sessions and held various discussions during the meeting. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://pag.confex.com/pag/au2023/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/51038 |
Description | Poster at ACS Fall Meeting: Harnessing Chemical Ecology to achieve Food Security |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Poster presentation at ACS Fall Meeting |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Presentation - IMPPC23 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Invited Keynote speaker for the 2nd International Molecular Plant Protection Congress- IMPPC2023 held at Hektas Agricultural Innovation, Training and Experience Center, Orhangazi-Bursa,Türkiye between May 15-18, 2023. The abstract for the talk I gave is below. Today's Weed Scientists are fortunate to have access to genomic data for problematic weeds. These data are unequivocally leading to better knowledge and understanding of the fundamental biology of weediness, weed population genetics, and ecology. However, the more we know, the clearer it becomes that a genome alone is not sufficient. For instance, a single genome is much less informative than a pangenome or multiple genomes from sister species, and the outputs from analysis of genome(s) indicates correlations rather than demonstrates causation; therefore these new data generate new hypotheses that require further testing. For instance, our recent publication shows that genetic basis of non-target site resistance in black-grass (Alopecurus myosuroides) differs between populations, where populations presenting similar herbicide resistance phenotypes have significant differences in differentially expressed genes or QTLs associated with resistance. Ours and other experiments have identified candidate genes and pathways correlated with weedy traits, but thus far, most studies finish with these correlations rather than demonstrating causation. To get beyond correlations and test hypotheses concerning causation, Weed Science requires tools to functionally validate genes of interest rapidly and accurately. Our lab aims to bring agricultural weeds into the molecular laboratory and generate the necessary resources and techniques that will allow us to test genotype-to-phenotype hypotheses directly in weedy species. For instance, using the troublesome arable weed black-grass (Alopecurus myosuroides), we adapted methods for virus-induced gene silencing or virus-mediated overexpression to transiently reduce or induce gene expression in planta respectively. This presentation will discuss those breakthroughs, reiterate why they are necessary, and give examples of how genomic resources and genetic tools has enabled better molecular-level understanding of weediness and weedy traits. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.imppc2023.org/en/KEYNOTE-SPEAKERS.html |
Description | Presentation at DSV variety launch on oilseed rape disease biology and control, 24 May 2023 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Made a 20-minute presentation to farmers on oilseed rape disease biology and control at DSV variety launch, 24 May 2023 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Presentation at the APPS Plant Health Surveillance workshop, SARDI-Adelaide, 20 Nov 2023. |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Presentation at the APPS Plant Health Surveillance workshop, SARDI-Adelaide, 20 Nov 2023. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Presenting in Emerging Agri-Tech session at REAP 23 conference |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Present during the emerging agri-tech section of the REAP event where we discussed new technologies emerging from our research and discussed the potential benefits to end users. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.agri-tech-e.co.uk/microsite-page/reap-2023/ |
Description | Project meeting Argentina |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | Visit and seminars to INTA and University of Buenos Aires for project meeting |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
Description | RRes King Abdul Aziz University Jeddah Collaboration workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | RRes King Abdul Aziz University Jeddah Collaboration workshop |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | RSC BMCS Committee Member |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Committee member on BMCS. Planning future events/conferences for those involved in biology or medicinal chemistry |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.rscbmcs.org/about/committee/ |
Description | Rothamsted Enterprises Ltd Discovery Day |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | "On 25/05/23 I presented the work that I am doing in collaboration with Gowan and other RRes Scientists under the title "Bringing Agricultural Weeds into the Molecular Labs" during the REL Campus Discovery event " |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Royal Entomological Society Insect behaviour SIG meeting: The role of microbes (environmental and endosymbionts) in insect behaviour |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Presentation at Royal Entomological Society Insect behaviour SIG meeting |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | School Visit (Primary school North London) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | School visit and Powerpoint presentation/hands on microscope session on insect pests and beneficials and how to combat insect pests. 60 pupils and two teachers attended with questions and discussion afterwards. School reported increased interest on further participation. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | School Visit - Year 3 Plant Science - Harpenden Academy |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | On the 12th of May, I spent 45 minutes with the 31 pupils in the Year 3 class at Harpenden Academy giving them a 20 minute talk about the research that I and others at Rothamsted are doing to address research questions covered by their Science Curriculum. I then spent another 25 minutes answering their questions. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | School of Life Sciences and the Environment seminar and individual meetings at Royal Holloway |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | "Gave the first in the departmental seminar series in the Department of Biological Sciences at Royal Holloway. The audience was approximately 50 people made up of a mixture of staff, post graduate and 3rd year undergraduate students and forms part of the teaching provision for the master's course in Biological sciences. Also met with other members of the department and Early Career Researchers throughout the day. Abstract below. Decades of work on model plants have accelerated scientific progress, and while these advances have led to many benefits, little of this work has focused on plant species that inflict real-world harm. Agricultural weeds significantly reduce yields and increase costs, yet our physiological and mechanistic understanding of how they survive in modern agriculture lags considerably behind that of the crops the grow next to. A better understanding of weeds not only allows us to understand how they avoid the chemical and anthropogenic selection pressures we place on them, but also how they survive the environmental challenges that harm our crops. To start to understand weeds and the unique weedy traits carried within their genomes, we are bringing agricultural weeds into the molecular labs and studying their biology and genetics. We are developing resources and techniques that enable us to conduct hypothesis-led research directly in the species of interest. Recent breakthroughs include methods to transiently alter gene expression and new genomic and genetic resources for weed species. This presentation discusses these advancements and how this data can inform innovative weed control." |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Seminar to UFPel and Embrapa Temperate Agriculture |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | On 11/8/23 I was asked to present a seminar entitled "Unlocking the Secrets of Plant Growth to Secure Food Security" to the University Federal of Pelotas, Brazil and to Embrapa Temperate Agriculture, Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Site visit - ADAS - Weeds Group |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Engaged with the site visit from ADAS Weeds group organised largely by the wider Rothamsted Weed Agro-Ecology team. Went to the different long-term experiments at Rothamsted and showed a subset of the group around the GM glasshouses where my experiments are underway. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Special seminar from Centre of Biotechnology - UFRGS/CBioT |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | on 9/8/23 I was invited to present a special seminar to the Centre of Biotechology and Fitotecnia Post-graduate programmes at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Porto Allegre |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Stakeholder event attended with Forest Research |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Stakeholder event attended with Forest Research, which was attended by several stakeholders (e.g. national trust, forestry commission) where we discussed potential considerations for the management of oak trees. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Sustainable Agriculture meeting |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Presenter at the Royal Entomological Society Sustainable Agriculture SIG meeting (Chemical ecology of chafer beetles). |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.royensoc.co.uk/event/sustainable-agriculture-23/ |
Description | Synthesis Drug Design & Discovery (Agrisciences contribution) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | I help to organise an online conference on synthesis drug design and discovery |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023,2024 |
Description | Trip to Embrapa Pelotas / Bage |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | As part of the trip to UFRGS, I also travelled to Embrapa Pelotas / Bage to meet with researchers, students, post-docs, as well as senior managers and scientists. I also presented an invited seminar to the joint seminar series of the Federal Univeristy of Pelotas and Embrapa - approxmiately 50-100 attendees were present. I have since been included in two proposals led by my host and have planned similar follow up activities. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | UK Civil Service Fast-stream programme _Nov 2023_Rothamsted |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | 30 min talk + 10 min Q&A on global food security and the biotic threats encounter both historic and recent. Then focussed on the current biotic threats to the UK wheat crop and the types of research approaches ongoing in DFW and DSW to help to provide alternative pest and pathogen control strategies and novel targets for intervention. Also discussed various UK policies which are in place to effectively minimise the biotic threat risk, whilst pointing out that air borne threats pose are the most challenging for policy makers. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | UK Fungal One Health Network Meeting 13th July 2023, Imperial College, London |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
Results and Impact | Presentation at UK Fungal One Health Network Meeting 13th July 2023, Imperial College, London |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Visist of UM6P delegation to RRes for workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | Gave oral presentation to delegates summarising opportunities to collaborate in plant pathology. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Visit by AgriTechNZ/Investment NSW (28th Sept. 2023) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Dissemination activity |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Visit by North Carolina State University Plant Sciences Initiative, 29th Sept. 2023 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | To discussion collaborations |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Visit of Notts Uni undergraduate and postgraduate students |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Series of talks given to visiting students (annual event) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
Description | Visit project collaborators (Argentina) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | Visit and seminars to INTA and University of Buenos Aires for project meeting |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Weed Resistance Action Group steering group meeting |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | A steering group meeting for the Weed Resistance Action Group Occurs twice annually. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
URL | https://ahdb.org.uk/knowledge-library/the-weed-resistance-action-group-wrag |
Description | What's in my Lab? - Rothamsted outreach |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Participated in filming inside the Rothamsted labs to promote the work that we do. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://twitter.com/Rothamsted/status/1635249477283119104?s=20 |
Description | Women in Science - Rothamsted outreach |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Participated in filming for series of Tweets and videos for Women in Science and outreach events |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://twitter.com/Rothamsted/status/1624392950242242573?s=20 |
Description | Working Group committee meetings of the following eCOST Cost Actions: CA18226, CA21134, CA22102, CA22158, CA22129, CA22136, CA22142 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
Results and Impact | The working group committee meetings involve discussions of scientific ideas with fellow scientists. A paper on bioaerosols was published as a result of the discussions and another one is in preparations and more are being discussed. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Working Group, Research Capacity Strengthening: A Quick Guide for Researchers |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Contribution to Working Group to produce a Guide for Researchers on Effective Research Capacity Strengthening |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.lstmed.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Effective%20RCS%20-%20A%20Quick%20Guide%20for%20Researc... |