BBSRC Core Strategic Programme in Resilient Crops: Miscanthus
Lead Research Organisation:
Aberystwyth University
Department Name: IBERS
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
The UK is committed to an 80% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050 as a result of the Climate Change Act (2008). Plants have been recognised as playing a pivotal role in helping to achieve such a target and the Energy Technologies Institute have estimated that the costs of the UK energy system would be up to £44 billion higher per year without bioenergy. Miscanthus belongs to a unique group of grasses which exhibit C4 photosynthesis and are capable of both extremely high yields and extreme environmental stress tolerance. Miscanthus has the highest output to input energy ratio for biomass production of any plant species because of its highly efficient photosynthesis and nutrient recycling; and is therefore an ideal feedstock for industrial biotechnology and bioenergy. The aim of our project is to gain detailed mechanistic understanding of the biological traits that underpin the development of climate proof Miscanthus crops, resilient to environmental stresses. Collectively, detailed understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms associated with domestication, biomass yield productivity and stress tolerance, will allow us to accelerate domestication and define future Miscanthus ideotypes for different UK environments and end-uses.
Domestication: The increased need for climate proof crops is driving a need for integration of diversity into existing crops and the novel domestication of plant species. Miscanthus is an outcrossing perennial genus, with high performing genotypes being the result of wide hybridisation and often polyploidisation. In Miscanthus we will therefore study the very early processes of domestication and the consequences of different genomes coming together, including the role of epigenetics and heterosis.
Biomass yield components: Miscanthus exhibits a number of characteristics which combine to result in high biomass productivity. We will focus on understanding the genetic and physiological control of early season growth and late season senescence contributing to the high radiation use efficiency. Building on multi-year field phenotyping of 1000 plants and genotyping-by-sequencing), we will identify quantitative trait loci and genes associated with key traits. Exemplar plants will be used in controlled environment experiments to determine the base temperature for growth, and its effect on bud morphology, metabolites and transcripts.
Stress tolerance and environmental change: Resilience requires plants and crops to be tolerant to multiple stresses at different life stages, and Miscanthus as a long season perennial is an excellent system in which to study tolerance to multiple stresses, e.g. summer drought followed by winter waterlogging, and the epigenetic memory of stress exposure. We will compare photosynthetic performance of parents and hybrids under temperature, water and nutrient stresses.
Defining of energy crop ideotypes: Successful ideotypes, identified using data from the science described above, will be used to update an existing process model. The model will be used to test for resilience under different climate scenarios and to understand the potential sensitivities attributable to different traits within the ideotype.
Domestication: The increased need for climate proof crops is driving a need for integration of diversity into existing crops and the novel domestication of plant species. Miscanthus is an outcrossing perennial genus, with high performing genotypes being the result of wide hybridisation and often polyploidisation. In Miscanthus we will therefore study the very early processes of domestication and the consequences of different genomes coming together, including the role of epigenetics and heterosis.
Biomass yield components: Miscanthus exhibits a number of characteristics which combine to result in high biomass productivity. We will focus on understanding the genetic and physiological control of early season growth and late season senescence contributing to the high radiation use efficiency. Building on multi-year field phenotyping of 1000 plants and genotyping-by-sequencing), we will identify quantitative trait loci and genes associated with key traits. Exemplar plants will be used in controlled environment experiments to determine the base temperature for growth, and its effect on bud morphology, metabolites and transcripts.
Stress tolerance and environmental change: Resilience requires plants and crops to be tolerant to multiple stresses at different life stages, and Miscanthus as a long season perennial is an excellent system in which to study tolerance to multiple stresses, e.g. summer drought followed by winter waterlogging, and the epigenetic memory of stress exposure. We will compare photosynthetic performance of parents and hybrids under temperature, water and nutrient stresses.
Defining of energy crop ideotypes: Successful ideotypes, identified using data from the science described above, will be used to update an existing process model. The model will be used to test for resilience under different climate scenarios and to understand the potential sensitivities attributable to different traits within the ideotype.
Planned Impact
unavailable
Organisations
- Aberystwyth University (Lead Research Organisation)
- State University of the North of Parana (Collaboration)
- Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) (Collaboration)
- University of York (Collaboration)
- Tata Steel (Collaboration)
- Institute of Genetics, Physiology and Plant Protection (Collaboration)
- HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology (Collaboration)
- James Hutton Institute (Collaboration)
- U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (Collaboration)
- University of California, Berkeley (Collaboration)
- Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Collaboration)
- Julius Kuhn Institute (Collaboration)
- JOHN INNES CENTRE (Collaboration)
- Drax (Collaboration)
- Federal University of Paraná (Collaboration)
- University of Hohenheim (Collaboration)
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Collaboration)
- Terravesta Ltd (Collaboration)
- Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Collaboration)
- University of Western Australia (Collaboration)
- CARDIFF UNIVERSITY (Collaboration)
- Teagasc (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD (Collaboration)
- National Taiwan University (Collaboration)
- Federal Institute of Rio Grande do Sul (Collaboration)
- University of Catania (Collaboration)
- Justus Liebig University Giessen (Collaboration)
- IBioIC (Collaboration)
- EARLHAM INSTITUTE (Collaboration)
Publications
Adams JMM
(2018)
What cell wall components are the best indicators for Miscanthus digestibility and conversion to ethanol following variable pretreatments?
in Biotechnology for biofuels
Ashman C
(2018)
Assessing seed priming, sowing date, and mulch film to improve the germination and survival of direct-sown Miscanthus sinensis in the United Kingdom.
in Global change biology. Bioenergy
Ashman C
(2023)
Improving field establishment and yield in seed propagated Miscanthus through manipulating plug size, sowing date and seedling age.
in Frontiers in plant science
Awty-Carroll D
(2020)
Using a Taguchi DOE to investigate factors and interactions affecting germination in Miscanthus sinensis.
in Scientific reports
Awty-Carroll D
(2018)
Using k-NN to analyse images of diverse germination phenotypes and detect single seed germination in Miscanthus sinensis.
in Plant methods
Awty-Carroll D
(2020)
Allelopathic and intraspecific growth competition effects establishment of direct sown Miscanthus
in GCB Bioenergy
Bhatia R
(2020)
Pilot-scale production of xylo-oligosaccharides and fermentable sugars from Miscanthus using steam explosion pretreatment.
in Bioresource technology
Bhatia R
(2019)
Modified expression of ZmMYB167 in Brachypodium distachyon and Zea mays leads to increased cell wall lignin and phenolic content.
in Scientific reports
Bhatia R
(2021)
Production of oligosaccharides and biofuels from Miscanthus using combinatorial steam explosion and ionic liquid pretreatment
in Bioresource Technology
Bhatia R
(2017)
Genetic engineering of grass cell wall polysaccharides for biorefining.
in Plant biotechnology journal
| Description | The overall aim of our project is to gain detailed mechanistic understanding of the biological traits that underpin the development of climate proof Miscanthus crops, resilient to environmental stresses. The three main inter-related research questions we have are: 1. What are the genetic features underpinning early domestication processes in Miscanthus? 2. What are the genetic and physiological mechanisms that control early season growth and late season senescence? 3. What are the molecular and physiological mechanisms that can make Miscanthus resilient to different environmental stresses (drought, flooding, temperature, nutrient limitation)? The project is ongoing and we are making progress as described below: 1. Genetic features underpinning early domestication in Miscanthus. The M. sinensis genome was sequenced as part of a long term international collaboration (Mitros et al., 2020). The M. sacchariflorus genome (De Vega et al., 2021a) was also subsequently anchored to this assembly. Carbohydrate metabolism genes were associated with biomass yield in the progeny of an interspecific cross (De Vega et al., 2021b). This builds on earlier work demonstrating that carbohydrates can be used to predict future yield performance and enhance Miscanthus as a more sustainable alternative (e.g. to maize) in fermentation systems (Mangold et al., 2019). To speed up deployment of new Miscanthus varieties we have prioritised the breeding of seeded hybrids. Seeded hybrids require novel agronomies to ensure successful establishment whilst minimizing greenhouse gas emissions on land use conversion (described under highlights below). 2. Genetic and physiological mechanisms that control early season growth and late season senescence. New paradigms for seasonal development in perennials, including a metabolic ceiling to yield, have been identified by observations of diverse growth trajectories (Robson et al., 2019). Potential yield ceilings, and how these can be overcome are being studied by using genetic diversity of stem elongation rates in genotypes of differing growth duration. By studying the relationships between biomass yield and its component traits we have successfully increased the accuracy of genomic prediction (Slavov et al., 2019). We have also identified multiple QTL associated with flowering time in Miscanthus, the most significant of which was syntenic with switchgrass in a UK-US collaboration (Jensen et al., 2021). We are improving genetic predictions for multiple traits, associated with yield and quality, in a large population (approx. 900 genotypes) including parents (of different species) and their hybrids. 3. What are the molecular and physiological mechanisms that can make Miscanthus resilient? Seed and clonal Miscanthus accessions were established at four altitudinal gradient sites from 70-340 m. Variation in growth, chlorophyll fluorescence and biochemistries associated with early season cold tolerance have been identified in hybrids across the gradient. The role that epigenetics plays is being investigated via methylome analysis of the clonal genotypes grown at different altitudes. We have characterised the impact of drought on growth and biomass quality in selected genotypes (Stavridou et al., 2019) and demonstrated that traits associated with superior performance per se rather than stress tolerance resulted in most favourable biomass yields in controlled water studies (Malinowska et al., 2020). The Soil-Plant-Air facility was upgraded in 2019 with independent feed-back watering control on every plant based on real time reflectometer data. Water potentials under severe drought have been observed that were 3x the standard wilt point in grasses, from which the plants are able to make a full recovery, and 50% yield improvement has been recorded under low water supply in a new hybrid. We have identified improved water conservation in new seed-based hybrids that correlates with reduced heavy metal uptake in contaminated soils (Rusinowski et al., 2019). We are establishing seed-based hybrid trials on lignite-mine spoils and other marginal soils to further improve the agronomic science on such sites. Bacterial endophytes have been isolated, from Miscanthus growing at salt and heavy metal contaminated sites, a number of which confer plant growth promotion in the presence and absence biotic and nutritional stress. One strain mediated abiotic stress tolerance with minimal transcriptional modifications, in contrast to known plant growth promoting strains. |
| Exploitation Route | Collectively, detailed understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms associated with domestication, biomass productivity and stress tolerance, will allow us to accelerate domestication and define future Miscanthus ideotypes for different UK environments and end-uses. IBERS has built up the most comprehensive collection of Miscanthus outside of Asia, and is using this to develop new seed and rhizome based hybrids which are being trialled at UK farm sites by Terravesta Ltd. In November 2018, we (IBERS, Aberystwyth University) have submitted for Plant Variety Protection of our first four Miscanthus varieties (Artemis, Atropos, Astraea and Aphrodite) based on the results of trialling; and in 2019 a further four Miscanthus varieties were submitted for protection. In February 2022 we received the final examination reports for three hybrids (CPVO No. 20183177, 20183176, and 20193246) which have all met DUS criteria, and we are awaiting final Plant Variety certificate confirmation. |
| Sectors | Agriculture Food and Drink Energy Environment Manufacturing including Industrial Biotechology Transport |
| Description | A primary objective of the CSP was to increase our knowledge of key traits in energy crops, particularly those related to resilience and its links to yield, quality, and sustainability. We have developed models clarifying the genetic associations between spring emergence, consequent canopy phenology and dry biomass yield. The timing of emergence was a moderately strong predictor of early-season elongation growth (genetic correlation >0.5), but less so for growth later in the season and for the final yield (genetic correlation <0.1). In contrast, early-season canopy height was consistently more informative than emergence for predicting biomass yield across datasets for two species in Miscanthus and two growing seasons. We used the associations uncovered through these models to develop selection indices that are expected to increase the response to selection for yield by as much as 21% and improve the performance of genome-wide prediction by an order of magnitude. This multivariate approach could have an immediate impact in operational breeding programmes, as well as enable the integration of crop growth models and genome-wide prediction. Having produced seed from promising parents in climate-controlled glasshouses in the UK, based on BBSRC funded science on flowering time control, parent plants have been grown in crossing blocks in Southern Europe. These hybrids were licenced to Terravesta Ltd in 2019 who will use the most promising hybrids for the first commercial roll out starting in 2020 based on CSPG agronomic science (Ashman et al., 2018; Awty-Carroll et al., 2018). A number of these hybrids are also being trialled in other locations in Europe funded by the EU H2020 GRACE project, where Terravesta and IBERS are partners. In GRACE, hybrids are being grown on marginal and degraded land in six countries across the EU. In November 2018, we (IBERS, Aberystwyth University) have submitted for Plant Variety Protection of our first four Miscanthus varieties (Artemis, Atropos, Astraea and Aphrodite) based on the results of recent trialling; and in November 2019, further Miscanthus varieties were submitted for protection through the Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO). This now means that our Miscanthus science has a route to market through a crop improvement pipeline to benefit UK farmers and be exported internationally. A total of seven Miscanthus varieties were approved by CPVO in 2021-2022, which are the first varieties to be registered for biomass production. One variety has been planted on 10ha in Yorkshire as part of a UKRI/BBSRC funded Greenhouse Gas Removal Demonstrator project (PBC4GGR) and several varieties have been planted at eight hub sites across the UK (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) as part of the DESNZ Biomass Innovation demonstration platform (Biomass Connect). |
| First Year Of Impact | 2018 |
| Sector | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Energy,Environment,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology,Transport |
| Impact Types | Societal Economic |
| Description | A low carbon pathway for Wales |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| Description | Contribution to the Welsh Government Consultation on Beyond Recycling: A strategy to make the circular economy in Wales a reality |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| URL | https://gov.wales/sites/default/files/consultations/2020-09/beyond-recycling-summary-of-responses_1.... |
| Description | Engagement with Welsh Government and BEIS, in both Cardiff and London, on the Bioeconomy and the potential for Wales to develop it's own strategy that complements the UK Bioeconomy Strategy |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| Description | Engagement with policymakers in Welsh Government on soils and land use post-Brexit in Wales. Engagement was on sharing and integration of information and datasets to improve future recommendations. |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Description | Evidence provided to the Greenhouse gas removals consultation by UK Government |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| URL | https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/9411... |
| Description | Greenhouse gas removal: September 2018 |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| Impact | through addressing the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gases that are driving climate change |
| URL | http://royalsociety.org/greenhouse-gas-removal |
| Description | Land use: Policies for a Net Zero UK: 23 Jan 2020 |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| Impact | More biomass production would contribute to low carbon economy and reductions in erosion and nutrient losses. |
| URL | https://www.theccc.org.uk/ |
| Description | Member of Net Zero Science Advisory Panel for NFU. |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Description | Membership of Expert Advisory Group on "Land use: Policies for a Net Zero UK" for Committee of Climate Change |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| URL | https://www.theccc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Land-use-Policies-for-a-Net-Zero-UK.pdf |
| Description | Membership of Expert Advisory Group on bioenergy for Committee of Climate Change |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Membership of a guideline committee |
| Impact | The Biomass in a Low Carbon Economy report was used by and cited in the main CCC Net Zero report. The Net Zero report has resulted in the UK making its commitment to achieve Net Zero GHG emissions by 2050 which included secondary legislation to the 2008 Climate Change Act. |
| URL | https://www.theccc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Biomass-in-a-low-carbon-economy-CCC-2018.pdf |
| Description | Net Zero - The UK's contribution to stopping global warming: 2 May 2019 |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| Impact | We were interviewed by CCC to provide information on opportunity for biomass / bioenergy / bioeconomy resulting from our work on hybrid Miscanthus. |
| URL | https://www.theccc.org.uk/publicationtype/0-report/ |
| Description | Next steps for employability in Wales: skills development, the new 'Economic Contract' and preparing for the future |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| URL | https://www.policyforumforwales.co.uk/publication/employability-PFW-18 |
| Description | Participation as a stakeholder in the Wales evidence session for the Trade and Agriculture Commission |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| URL | https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/9657... |
| Description | Participation in The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee inquiry on Agriculture achieving net-zero emissions - Supergen Bioenergy Hub submission |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| Description | Participation in a focus group with Malaysian scientists |
| Geographic Reach | Asia |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Description | Support for Welsh farming after Brexit |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| Description | Adding value to uplands agriculture and biomass waste through processing into products for horticulture. |
| Amount | £52,885 (GBP) |
| Organisation | European Social Fund (Welsh Government/ EU) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2018 |
| End | 03/2021 |
| Description | BEACON+ Biorefing Centre East Wales funded through ERDF via Welsh European Funding Office |
| Amount | £443,888 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | 82163 |
| Organisation | Welsh Assembly |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2019 |
| End | 12/2021 |
| Description | BEACON+ Biorefing Centre West Wales & the Valleys Extension funded through ERDF via Welsh European Funding Office |
| Amount | £3,782,889 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | 80851 |
| Organisation | Welsh Assembly |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2019 |
| End | 12/2021 |
| Description | Biologically Derived Polyesters and Polyamides - Production, Processing and Circular Life (BioPol4Life) |
| Amount | £503,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Government of Wales |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 08/2020 |
| End | 02/2023 |
| Description | Bioreactor system for Industrial Biotechnology process development |
| Amount | £389,401 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | BB/R000700/1 |
| Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 07/2017 |
| End | 08/2020 |
| Description | Genetic tools in Brachypodium distachyon to identify genes regulating bioenergy relevant traits in grasses |
| Amount | $0 (USD) |
| Organisation | U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United States |
| Start | 08/2019 |
| Description | Greenhouse Gas Removal by Accelerated Peat Formation |
| Amount | £4,383,972 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | BB/V011561/1 |
| Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2021 |
| End | 11/2025 |
| Description | Horizon 2020 BBI; Growing advanced industrial crops on marginal lands for biorefineries (GRACE) |
| Amount | € 15,000,851 (EUR) |
| Funding ID | 745012 |
| Organisation | European Union |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | European Union (EU) |
| Start | 05/2017 |
| End | 05/2022 |
| Description | Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre (IDRIC) |
| Amount | £19,903,412 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EP/V027050/1 |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2021 |
| End | 03/2024 |
| Description | KESS2 |
| Amount | £52,885 (GBP) |
| Organisation | European Social Fund (Welsh Government/ EU) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 12/2018 |
| End | 12/2021 |
| Description | MISCOMAR+ Miscanthus for Contaminated and Marginal Lands. |
| Amount | £1,400,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Department For Environment, Food And Rural Affairs (DEFRA) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 05/2020 |
| End | 05/2024 |
| Description | Miscanspeed |
| Amount | £2,083,436 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Government of the UK |
| Department | Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2022 |
| End | 03/2025 |
| Description | NRN-LCEE Returning Fellowships |
| Amount | £9,990 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | R39GO1/CC8004/RFS008 |
| Organisation | Welsh Assembly |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2018 |
| Description | Optimising the diversity and resilience of grasses for use in urban environments. |
| Amount | £25,305 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | BB/R021325/1 |
| Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 05/2018 |
| End | 06/2022 |
| Description | Perennial Biomass Crops for Greenhouse Gas Removal |
| Amount | £3,908,830 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | BB/V011553/1 |
| Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2021 |
| End | 10/2025 |
| Description | Precision drone platform for NetZero Agriculture and Land Use (SMART Flexible Innovation Support) |
| Amount | £191,628 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Welsh Assembly |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2024 |
| End | 03/2024 |
| Description | Rural Development Plan; Plan Torri Tir Newydd |
| Amount | £295,284 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Government of Wales |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 11/2017 |
| End | 11/2019 |
| Description | Separation and purification of organic condensate output streams from superheated steam torrefaction of forestry and agricultural residues |
| Amount | £19,902 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | BB1150A-BIV-T |
| Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2018 |
| End | 09/2018 |
| Description | Supergen Bioenergy Hub |
| Amount | £4,999,507 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EP/J017302/1 |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 11/2018 |
| End | 10/2022 |
| Description | Three C: Creating and Sustaining Charcoal value chains to promote a circular carbon economy |
| Amount | € 3,370,170 (EUR) |
| Organisation | European Union |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | European Union (EU) |
| Start | 01/2020 |
| End | 12/2022 |
| Title | Altitudinal gradient research platform for resilient crops at Pwllpeiran and Trawscoed experimental sites |
| Description | The research tool comprises an altitudinal gradient for crop research on resilience at Trawscoed and Pwllpeiran experimental sites, both associated with Aberystwyth University farms (leased from BBSRC and Welsh Government, respectively). Four fields were identified at 70 m, 150 m, 230 m and 340 m, and meteorological stations installed. Crops (forage grasses, clover, Miscanthus and oats) were planted from 2017 onward. The development of such a research platform will enable a greater understanding of crop biology across multiple real world challenging environments relevant to UK agriculture. The lowest site at Trawscoed (70 m) is optimal for the growth of forage and energy crops, and next to the Met Office weather station for which we have long term climate data. The other three sites are more marginal and provide increasingly challenging growing conditions. These sites are in addition to existing more lowland experimental sites at Gogerddan and Morfa Mawr, which are both predominantly at elevations of 10-50 m, and UK and European field trials used by the breeding programmes. We have carried out preliminary soil analyses and all the soils are a sandy or silt clay loam, with the 340 m site having the lowest N and P but highest C content. Such an upland and marginal site platform allows us to address the need to make genetic improvements in our crops for resilience to environment variation and extreme weather in multiple UK relevant environments. To further understand the environmental conditions, the sites will be instrumented for detailed measurements of microclimate and soil volumetric water, and we will model plant available water and water balances for both excess and insufficient water. Given that many forage and energy crops are perennial and that conditions vary significantly from one year to the next, we believe this platform to provide an important capability for own own research and in addition in collaboration. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2017 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | No impacts yet, but experiments have been started and weather, soil and crop data collected. |
| Title | Field Growth analysis protocols |
| Description | An improved set of standardized set of protocols was developed for measuring growth traits in Miscanthus which could be used for improving yield models. |
| Type Of Material | Physiological assessment or outcome measure |
| Year Produced | 2017 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The protocols are being used to compare growth in plot trials in multi-location trialling in breeding and EU projects. |
| Title | Miscanthus endophytic bacteria collection |
| Description | Collection of bacterial strains isolated from Miscanthus tissues |
| Type Of Material | Biological samples |
| Year Produced | 2017 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Published 2017. In use in on-going research. |
| URL | http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcbb.12364/pdf |
| Title | Photoperiod and temperature controlled glasshouses equipped for induction of flowering used in breeding |
| Description | The MUST project continues the development of our Photoperiod and temperature controlled glasshouses equipped for induction of flowering used in breeding, transitioning from SON-T lamps to LED lighting systems. |
| Type Of Material | Physiological assessment or outcome measure |
| Year Produced | 2017 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Reduction in the costs of Miscanthus breeding and seed production in the UK |
| Title | Soil-Plant-Atmosphere (SPA) facility |
| Description | The Soil-Plant-Atmosphere (SPA) facility acts as a half way house between the BBSRC National Plant Phenomics Centre and the field. Plants are gown in large volumes of soil in an open sided polytunnel with a sophisticated irrigation and monitoring system including to measure photosynthesis that allows large plants to be monitored for an entire year under different levels of water input. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2017 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | The facility has generated two years of data and is still being improved. It is expected that publications will be written soon and once optimised would be available for use in collaborations including in association with the National Plant Phenomics Centre. |
| Title | Additional file 6 of Differential expression of starch and sucrose metabolic genes linked to varying biomass yield in Miscanthus hybrids |
| Description | Additional file 6: Table S1. Individual trait scores and Person correlation between traits. Table S2. Traits significantly different (T-test) between the sequenced samples. Table S3. Normalised counts, expression fold-change and P-values for all the genes in roots, stem and leaf tissue between groups of hybrids. Table S4. Normalised counts, expression fold-change and P-values for all the genes in roots, stem and leaf tissue between hybrids and parents. Table S5. Functional annotation, GO and enzyme codes for all the genes in the reference genome. Table S6. Enriched GO terms among DEG between groups of hybrids. Table S7. Enriched GO terms among DEG between hybrids and parents. Table S8. Detailed functional annotation of 88 DEG within the enriched "carbohydrate metabolism" GO term. Table S9. Detailed functional annotation of 29 DEG within the enriched "generation of precursor metabolites and energy" GO term. Table S10. Detailed functional annotation of 72 DEG within the enriched "response to stress" GO term. Table S11. Detailed functional annotation of 31 DEG within the enriched "secondary metabolism" GO term. Table S12. Transcription factor and target genes contained in each regulon in the TRN. Table S13. Enrichment analysis of differential expression genes for each regulon in the TRN. Table S14. Enrichment analysis of GO terms in each regulon for the TRN. Table S15. Annotation of the twenty-eight regulons were enriched with the "carbohydrate metabolism", "generation of precursor metabolites and energy", or "secondary metabolism" GO terms; and were also enriched in DEGs, or where the TF was DE. Table S16. Annotation of the target genes in the twenty-eight highlighted regulons. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://springernature.figshare.com/articles/dataset/Additional_file_6_of_Differential_expression_of... |
| Title | Additional file 6 of Differential expression of starch and sucrose metabolic genes linked to varying biomass yield in Miscanthus hybrids |
| Description | Additional file 6: Table S1. Individual trait scores and Person correlation between traits. Table S2. Traits significantly different (T-test) between the sequenced samples. Table S3. Normalised counts, expression fold-change and P-values for all the genes in roots, stem and leaf tissue between groups of hybrids. Table S4. Normalised counts, expression fold-change and P-values for all the genes in roots, stem and leaf tissue between hybrids and parents. Table S5. Functional annotation, GO and enzyme codes for all the genes in the reference genome. Table S6. Enriched GO terms among DEG between groups of hybrids. Table S7. Enriched GO terms among DEG between hybrids and parents. Table S8. Detailed functional annotation of 88 DEG within the enriched "carbohydrate metabolism" GO term. Table S9. Detailed functional annotation of 29 DEG within the enriched "generation of precursor metabolites and energy" GO term. Table S10. Detailed functional annotation of 72 DEG within the enriched "response to stress" GO term. Table S11. Detailed functional annotation of 31 DEG within the enriched "secondary metabolism" GO term. Table S12. Transcription factor and target genes contained in each regulon in the TRN. Table S13. Enrichment analysis of differential expression genes for each regulon in the TRN. Table S14. Enrichment analysis of GO terms in each regulon for the TRN. Table S15. Annotation of the twenty-eight regulons were enriched with the "carbohydrate metabolism", "generation of precursor metabolites and energy", or "secondary metabolism" GO terms; and were also enriched in DEGs, or where the TF was DE. Table S16. Annotation of the target genes in the twenty-eight highlighted regulons. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://springernature.figshare.com/articles/dataset/Additional_file_6_of_Differential_expression_of... |
| Title | MSCAN/PHYSIS |
| Description | A SQL database (MSCAN) was developed to help track data from the large genotypic collection in a previous DEFRA/LINK grant. This database has continued to be utilised and developed through support of the current award which contributes to guiding new developments of the database and contributes data to ensure the database contains all sources of data for each genotype contained. The architecture of the database has been extended by a commercial partner in to a commercial database called Physis. The database is being developed further using Amazon's web service and flexible Apps particularly suited to in field phenotyping of traits. This database Physis, and the app Physis Collect are being used to collect, manage and analyse data from about 12 trials in the ongoing projects including the BBI GRACE project. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Applications for Physis are being developed beyond its original application as developed for Miscanthus and the system is being introduced to others in the form of a general database for managing crop data. |
| URL | http://www.physisdata.com/ |
| Title | MiscanFor: A crop production model where Astley Hastings is the lead developer. |
| Description | MiscanFor (2009 to current day) is a crop model for projecting Miscanthus yield temporally and spatially using GXE data. MiscanFor has its roots in MISCAMOD (2004). |
| Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
| Year Produced | 2009 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | It's an ongoing development led by my colleague Astley Hastings in Aberdeen |
| Description | Assessment of miscanthus pellets by DRAX |
| Organisation | Drax |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Processed miscanthus in our pilot scale facility to produce fibre and xylo-oligosaccharides. The fibre were then pelleted. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The pellets were analysed for their calorific value, ash content, and suitability for use a feedstock for power generation. |
| Impact | Data on combustion potential of the material. |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | Assessment of pellets by TATA |
| Organisation | TATA Steel |
| Country | India |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Processing of miscanthus to remove xylan and produce pellets from the remaining fibre |
| Collaborator Contribution | Assess the material as a potential replacement for coal in steel production |
| Impact | Outputs included the thermal properties of the miscanthus pellets and their suitability for burning in coke production. |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | BioPilots UK - The Alliance of Open Access Biorefining Centres |
| Organisation | Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | BioPilotsUK is a collaboration created by four established biorefining open-access centres who recognise the importance of partnerships to develop UK bio-based value chains. BioPilots helps to de-risk the commercialisation of bio-based products and processes by trialling new technologies to ensure partners are investing in the right technologies for their business. BioPilotsUK combines the UK's leading expertise and facilities to help businesses develop and scale-up new sustainable processes to commercialise products from biomass, including: plants, algae, by-products and wastes. Due to the varied nature of the raw materials, or feedstocks, there is no one size fits all approach, rather a series of technologies that must be trialled and combined to maximise the opportunity. Together, the BioPilotsUK centres offers the key components required to accelerate and de-risk bio-based projects, through access to: 1) highly-qualified specialists in genetic analysis, industrial biotechnology, green chemistry and chemical engineering; 2) a broad range of discovery to demonstration scale technologies to convert biomass into useful products; and 3) the accompanying analytical services and market awareness to assess viability of an idea. Aberystwyth is contributing to BioPilots through a range of facilities and expertise including the scaling up from the laboratory to pilot facilities using a range of feedstocks including grasses, and biobased waste streams. |
| Collaborator Contribution | BioPilotsUK offers a joined up, efficient, easy-access route to business support services to complement the four centres' technical capabilities. The services support the growth of supply chains within a high-value bioeconomy and represent a selection of services that partners can deliver. Centres within BioPilotsUK have process modelling teams, that can apply a number of commercially available software tools to fully understand and improve processes. Process modelling enables efficiency and the results can be used to predict hard to measure parameters, as well as cost estimation of process equipment. This knowledge complements scale-down models and identifies critical equipment design issues, saving time, effort and money prior to scaling up process. BioPilotsUK can support commercial and investment decisions by providing technical due diligence and IP landscaping services. It can provide in-depth techno-economic assessments, enabling the implementation of suitable technology development programmes and identification of value-adding technology partnerships. |
| Impact | This is a new venture and impacts of BioPilots as an entity are still under development however the individual partners are involved in many hundreds of collaborative R&D projects with industry. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | BioPilots UK - The Alliance of Open Access Biorefining Centres |
| Organisation | IBioIC |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | BioPilotsUK is a collaboration created by four established biorefining open-access centres who recognise the importance of partnerships to develop UK bio-based value chains. BioPilots helps to de-risk the commercialisation of bio-based products and processes by trialling new technologies to ensure partners are investing in the right technologies for their business. BioPilotsUK combines the UK's leading expertise and facilities to help businesses develop and scale-up new sustainable processes to commercialise products from biomass, including: plants, algae, by-products and wastes. Due to the varied nature of the raw materials, or feedstocks, there is no one size fits all approach, rather a series of technologies that must be trialled and combined to maximise the opportunity. Together, the BioPilotsUK centres offers the key components required to accelerate and de-risk bio-based projects, through access to: 1) highly-qualified specialists in genetic analysis, industrial biotechnology, green chemistry and chemical engineering; 2) a broad range of discovery to demonstration scale technologies to convert biomass into useful products; and 3) the accompanying analytical services and market awareness to assess viability of an idea. Aberystwyth is contributing to BioPilots through a range of facilities and expertise including the scaling up from the laboratory to pilot facilities using a range of feedstocks including grasses, and biobased waste streams. |
| Collaborator Contribution | BioPilotsUK offers a joined up, efficient, easy-access route to business support services to complement the four centres' technical capabilities. The services support the growth of supply chains within a high-value bioeconomy and represent a selection of services that partners can deliver. Centres within BioPilotsUK have process modelling teams, that can apply a number of commercially available software tools to fully understand and improve processes. Process modelling enables efficiency and the results can be used to predict hard to measure parameters, as well as cost estimation of process equipment. This knowledge complements scale-down models and identifies critical equipment design issues, saving time, effort and money prior to scaling up process. BioPilotsUK can support commercial and investment decisions by providing technical due diligence and IP landscaping services. It can provide in-depth techno-economic assessments, enabling the implementation of suitable technology development programmes and identification of value-adding technology partnerships. |
| Impact | This is a new venture and impacts of BioPilots as an entity are still under development however the individual partners are involved in many hundreds of collaborative R&D projects with industry. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | BioPilots UK - The Alliance of Open Access Biorefining Centres |
| Organisation | University of York |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | BioPilotsUK is a collaboration created by four established biorefining open-access centres who recognise the importance of partnerships to develop UK bio-based value chains. BioPilots helps to de-risk the commercialisation of bio-based products and processes by trialling new technologies to ensure partners are investing in the right technologies for their business. BioPilotsUK combines the UK's leading expertise and facilities to help businesses develop and scale-up new sustainable processes to commercialise products from biomass, including: plants, algae, by-products and wastes. Due to the varied nature of the raw materials, or feedstocks, there is no one size fits all approach, rather a series of technologies that must be trialled and combined to maximise the opportunity. Together, the BioPilotsUK centres offers the key components required to accelerate and de-risk bio-based projects, through access to: 1) highly-qualified specialists in genetic analysis, industrial biotechnology, green chemistry and chemical engineering; 2) a broad range of discovery to demonstration scale technologies to convert biomass into useful products; and 3) the accompanying analytical services and market awareness to assess viability of an idea. Aberystwyth is contributing to BioPilots through a range of facilities and expertise including the scaling up from the laboratory to pilot facilities using a range of feedstocks including grasses, and biobased waste streams. |
| Collaborator Contribution | BioPilotsUK offers a joined up, efficient, easy-access route to business support services to complement the four centres' technical capabilities. The services support the growth of supply chains within a high-value bioeconomy and represent a selection of services that partners can deliver. Centres within BioPilotsUK have process modelling teams, that can apply a number of commercially available software tools to fully understand and improve processes. Process modelling enables efficiency and the results can be used to predict hard to measure parameters, as well as cost estimation of process equipment. This knowledge complements scale-down models and identifies critical equipment design issues, saving time, effort and money prior to scaling up process. BioPilotsUK can support commercial and investment decisions by providing technical due diligence and IP landscaping services. It can provide in-depth techno-economic assessments, enabling the implementation of suitable technology development programmes and identification of value-adding technology partnerships. |
| Impact | This is a new venture and impacts of BioPilots as an entity are still under development however the individual partners are involved in many hundreds of collaborative R&D projects with industry. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Bioinformatics for crop genomics and breeding |
| Organisation | University of Western Australia |
| Country | Australia |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Data from field and phenomics and expertise on crop modelling and plant breeding. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Expertise on crop bioinformatics and data integration. |
| Impact | Work under progress on integration of bioinformatics for crop science and plant breeding. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | CAT - Seed production |
| Organisation | University of Catania |
| Country | Italy |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We are working together with UNICT and Terravesta Ltd. in MUST to develop seed production techniques. |
| Collaborator Contribution | While the MUST project an annual contribution of 10k euro to the direct costs at UNICT, annual support for field programme is more like 20k euro, which is an in kind benefit for the MUST project. |
| Impact | See publications: Co-authors Cosentino, D, Scordia, G and Scalici, G. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Collaboration on resilience and drought tolerance in grasses in urban environments |
| Organisation | National Taiwan University |
| Country | Taiwan, Province of China |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | This project brings together grassland scientists, architects and landscape architects to increase the resilience of green infrastructures in the built environment in the UK and in Asia. The IBERS research team brings expertise on grass and legume resilience biology including phenomics and modelling. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The National Taiwan University bring expertise on the benefiit of green and blue infrastructures in the built environment. |
| Impact | This is a new collaboration which seeks to link groups, in the UK and Taiwan, on grass and legume genetics, phenomics and breeding, green infrastructures, landscape ecology and biodiversity, and innovation to tackle the global challenges of urbanisation and climate change through the use of nature-based solutions. Currently we are working on the use of grasses in a phytostabilisation project to reduce negative environmental impacts. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | IGPPP Moldova- GXE trialling |
| Organisation | Institute of Genetics, Physiology and Plant Protection |
| Country | Moldova, Republic of |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | We hosted and trained a scientist from IGPPP in UK (Lincoln and Aberystwyth) in Jan - Feb 2018/9. |
| Collaborator Contribution | IGPPP are hosting 2 hectares of some of the most advanced Miscanthus seed based hybrids, including those recently added to those registered with the European Central Plant Variety Office. |
| Impact | A. Sandu and V. Botnari are co-authors of 2 listed publications. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Miscanthus genome |
| Organisation | Earlham Institute |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Miscanthus sacchariflorus genome sequence, Miscanthus RNAseq data |
| Collaborator Contribution | Miscanthus sinensis genome sequence (https://phytozome.jgi.doe.gov/pz/portal.html#!info?alias=Org_Msinensis_er), Miscanthus RNAseq data, Miscanthus molecular markers |
| Impact | Publication in preparation |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Miscanthus genome |
| Organisation | HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Miscanthus sacchariflorus genome sequence, Miscanthus RNAseq data |
| Collaborator Contribution | Miscanthus sinensis genome sequence (https://phytozome.jgi.doe.gov/pz/portal.html#!info?alias=Org_Msinensis_er), Miscanthus RNAseq data, Miscanthus molecular markers |
| Impact | Publication in preparation |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Miscanthus genome |
| Organisation | Teagasc |
| Country | Ireland |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Miscanthus sacchariflorus genome sequence, Miscanthus RNAseq data |
| Collaborator Contribution | Miscanthus sinensis genome sequence (https://phytozome.jgi.doe.gov/pz/portal.html#!info?alias=Org_Msinensis_er), Miscanthus RNAseq data, Miscanthus molecular markers |
| Impact | Publication in preparation |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Miscanthus genome |
| Organisation | U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Miscanthus sacchariflorus genome sequence, Miscanthus RNAseq data |
| Collaborator Contribution | Miscanthus sinensis genome sequence (https://phytozome.jgi.doe.gov/pz/portal.html#!info?alias=Org_Msinensis_er), Miscanthus RNAseq data, Miscanthus molecular markers |
| Impact | Publication in preparation |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Miscanthus genome |
| Organisation | University of California, Berkeley |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Miscanthus sacchariflorus genome sequence, Miscanthus RNAseq data |
| Collaborator Contribution | Miscanthus sinensis genome sequence (https://phytozome.jgi.doe.gov/pz/portal.html#!info?alias=Org_Msinensis_er), Miscanthus RNAseq data, Miscanthus molecular markers |
| Impact | Publication in preparation |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Miscanthus genome |
| Organisation | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Miscanthus sacchariflorus genome sequence, Miscanthus RNAseq data |
| Collaborator Contribution | Miscanthus sinensis genome sequence (https://phytozome.jgi.doe.gov/pz/portal.html#!info?alias=Org_Msinensis_er), Miscanthus RNAseq data, Miscanthus molecular markers |
| Impact | Publication in preparation |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Miscanthus new hybrid rapid evaluation |
| Organisation | Julius Kuhn Institute |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Provision of new genetic material and agronomy |
| Collaborator Contribution | Locations for evaluation, drought and water use, tissue culture |
| Impact | Clifton-Brown J, Hastings A, Mos M, McCalmont JP, Ashman C, Awty-Carroll D, Cerazy J, Chiang Y-C, Cosentino S, Cracroft-Eley W, Scurlock J, Donnison IS, Glover C, Golab I, Greef JM, Gwyn J, Harding G, Hayes C, Helios W, Hsu T-W, Huang LS, Jezowski S, Kim D-S, Kiesel A, Kotecki A, Krzyzak J, Lewandowski I, Lim SH, Liu J, Loosely M, Meyer H, Murphy-Bokern D, Nelson W, Pogrzeba M, Robinson G, Robson P, Rogers C, Scalici G, Schuele H, Shafiei R, Shevchuk O, Schwarz K-U, Squance M, Swaller T, Thornton J, Truckses T, Botnari V, Vizi, I, Wagner M, Warren R, Webster R, Yamada T, Youell S, Xi Q, Zong J, Flavell R. Progress in upscaling Miscanthus biomass production with seed based hybrids. GCB Bioenergy 9: 6-17. 2017. Clifton-Brown J, Harfouche A, Casler MD, Jones HD, Macalpine WJ, Murphy-Bokern D, Smart LB, Adler A, Ashman C, Awty-Carroll D, Bastien C, Bopper S, Botnari V, Brancourt-Hulmel M, Chen Z, Clark LV, Cosentino S, Dalton S, Davey C, Dolstra O, Donnison I, Flavell R, Greef J, Hanley S, Hastings A, Hertzberg M, Hsu T-W, Huang LS, Lurato A, Jensen E, Jin X, Jørgensen U, Kiesel A, Kim D-S, Liu J, McCalmont JP, McMahon BG, Mos M, Robson P, Sacks EJ, Sandu A, Scalici G, Schwarz K, Scordia D, Shafiei R, Shield I, Slavov G, Stanton BJ, Swaminathan K, Taylor G, Torres AF, Trindade LM, Tschaplinski T, Tuskan GA, Yamada T, Yu CY , Zalesny RS Jr, Zong J, Lewandowski I. Breeding progress and preparedness for mass-scale deployment of perennial lignocellulosic biomass crops switchgrass, miscanthus, willow, and poplar. GCB Bioenergy 11: 118-151. 2019. Taylor G, Donnison IS, Murphy-Bokern D, Morgante M, Bogeat-Triboulot M-B, Bhalerao R, Hertzberg M, Polle A, Harfouche A, Alasia F, Petoussi V, Trebbi D, Schwarz K, Keurentjes JJB, Centritto M, Genty B, Flexas J, Grill E, Salvi S, Davies WJ. Sustainable bioenergy for climate mitigation: developing drought-tolerant trees and grasses. Annals of Botany 124: 513-520. 2019. Huang LS, Flavell R, Donnison IS, Chiang Y-C, Hastings A, Hayes C, Heidt C, Hong H, Hsu T-W, Humphreys M, Jackson J, Norris J, Schwarz K-U, Squance M, Swaller T, Thomas ID, Van Assche W, Xi Q, Yamada T, Youell S, Clifton-Brown J. Collecting wild Miscanthus germplasm in Asia for crop improvement and conservation in Europe whilst adhering to the guidelines of the United Nations' Convention on Biological Diversity. Annals of Botany 124: 591-604. 2019. Clifton-Brown J, Schwarz K-U, Awty-Carroll D, Iurato A, Meyer H, Greef J, Gwyn J, Mos M, Ashman CR, Hayes C, Huang L, Norris J. Rodgers C, Scordia D, Shafiei R, Squance M, Swaller T, Youell S, Salvatore C, Flavell R. Breeding Strategies to Improve Miscanthus as a Sustainable Source of Biomass for Bioenergy and Biorenewable Products. Agronomy 9: 673. 2019. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Miscanthus to products: "GRowing Advanced industrial Crops on marginal lands for biorEfineries" (GRACE) |
| Organisation | University of Hohenheim |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Providing new research material and agronomy advice. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Collaboration on the evaluation of Miscanthus seed based hybrids in continental Europe, their agronomy and management at scale and their utilisation in anaerobic digestion |
| Impact | Clifton-Brown J, Hastings A, Mos M, McCalmont JP, Ashman C, Awty-Carroll D, Cerazy J, Chiang Y-C, Cosentino S, Cracroft-Eley W, Scurlock J, Donnison IS, Glover C, Golab I, Greef JM, Gwyn J, Harding G, Hayes C, Helios W, Hsu T-W, Huang LS, Jezowski S, Kim D-S, Kiesel A, Kotecki A, Krzyzak J, Lewandowski I, Lim SH, Liu J, Loosely M, Meyer H, Murphy-Bokern D, Nelson W, Pogrzeba M, Robinson G, Robson P, Rogers C, Scalici G, Schuele H, Shafiei R, Shevchuk O, Schwarz K-U, Squance M, Swaller T, Thornton J, Truckses T, Botnari V, Vizi, I, Wagner M, Warren R, Webster R, Yamada T, Youell S, Xi Q, Zong J, Flavell R. Progress in upscaling Miscanthus biomass production with seed based hybrids. GCB Bioenergy 9: 6-17. 2017. Clifton-Brown J, Harfouche A, Casler MD, Jones HD, Macalpine WJ, Murphy-Bokern D, Smart LB, Adler A, Ashman C, Awty-Carroll D, Bastien C, Bopper S, Botnari V, Brancourt-Hulmel M, Chen Z, Clark LV, Cosentino S, Dalton S, Davey C, Dolstra O, Donnison I, Flavell R, Greef J, Hanley S, Hastings A, Hertzberg M, Hsu T-W, Huang LS, Lurato A, Jensen E, Jin X, Jørgensen U, Kiesel A, Kim D-S, Liu J, McCalmont JP, McMahon BG, Mos M, Robson P, Sacks EJ, Sandu A, Scalici G, Schwarz K, Scordia D, Shafiei R, Shield I, Slavov G, Stanton BJ, Swaminathan K, Taylor G, Torres AF, Trindade LM, Tschaplinski T, Tuskan GA, Yamada T, Yu CY , Zalesny RS Jr, Zong J, Lewandowski I. Breeding progress and preparedness for mass-scale deployment of perennial lignocellulosic biomass crops switchgrass, miscanthus, willow, and poplar. GCB Bioenergy 11: 118-151. 2019. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Miscanthus value chain development |
| Organisation | Terravesta Ltd |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | We have worked with Terravesta Ltd on a number of collaborative projects but in this BBSRC Core Strategic Programme in Resilient Crops project we are collaborating with Terravesta to collect data from larger scale demonstration plots of new hybrids outside of Aberystwyth for publication and helping to develop new value chains. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Terravesta are providing demonstration scale field trials in the UK for IBERS to instrument and collect data for Miscanthus crop science which saves IBERS from having to establish and run trials outside of the Aberystwyth area. |
| Impact | No outcomes from the current project have arisen yet but data is being collected. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Multi-location trials of new Miscanthus genotypes |
| Organisation | Justus Liebig University Giessen |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | This is an early stage collaboration at the stage of planning long term comparative trials of Miscanthus in Aberystwyth and Giessen |
| Collaborator Contribution | Contributions so far have been discussions to prepare for long term trials of Miscanthus in different environmental conditions with crop experts in the two locations. |
| Impact | This is a new collaboration so no outputs yet. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Terravesta |
| Organisation | Terravesta Ltd |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Breeding and agronomy of Miscanthus hybrids to provide biomass for bioenergy and the bioecononmy |
| Collaborator Contribution | Together we participate in private, nationally funded and EU funded projects and new proposals. Key funding opportunities include Innovate UK, BEIS, DEFRA and EPSRC |
| Impact | Licences to hybrids bred collaboratively |
| Start Year | 2012 |
| Description | UK-Brazil Nitrogen Fixation Centre (BBSRC-CONFAP VJC Nitrogen) |
| Organisation | Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation |
| Department | Embrapa Agrobiologia |
| Country | Brazil |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | WP2.2 Isolate and characterize epiphytic and endophytic bacteria from C4 plants and select the most efficient strains in terms of plant growth promotion WP2.3 Molecular tagging to visualise colonisation and localisation in planta WP2.4 Phenomics analysis of plant growth in response to inoculation under limited nitrogen and/or water WP3 Identify genetic components required for efficient crop-microbe interactions |
| Collaborator Contribution | WP1 Strategies for engineering ammonium excretion in diazotrophic endophytes WP2.1 Devise selection strategies to isolate efficient endophytes using serial inoculation WP2.5 Quantitate nitrogen fixation using 15N WP4. Evaluate the effectiveness of inoculants in field trials |
| Impact | UK-Brazil Nitrogen Fixation Centre (BBSRC-CONFAP). We are a virtual joint centre working to develop innovative technologies to increase crop productivity in Brazil using nitrogen-fixing bacteria as a sustainable source of fixed nitrogen. In turn this will reduce the input of chemical fertilisers in agriculture and mitigate the environmental and economic impacts of reactive nitrogen pollution. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | UK-Brazil Nitrogen Fixation Centre (BBSRC-CONFAP VJC Nitrogen) |
| Organisation | Federal Institute of Rio Grande do Sul |
| Country | Brazil |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | WP2.2 Isolate and characterize epiphytic and endophytic bacteria from C4 plants and select the most efficient strains in terms of plant growth promotion WP2.3 Molecular tagging to visualise colonisation and localisation in planta WP2.4 Phenomics analysis of plant growth in response to inoculation under limited nitrogen and/or water WP3 Identify genetic components required for efficient crop-microbe interactions |
| Collaborator Contribution | WP1 Strategies for engineering ammonium excretion in diazotrophic endophytes WP2.1 Devise selection strategies to isolate efficient endophytes using serial inoculation WP2.5 Quantitate nitrogen fixation using 15N WP4. Evaluate the effectiveness of inoculants in field trials |
| Impact | UK-Brazil Nitrogen Fixation Centre (BBSRC-CONFAP). We are a virtual joint centre working to develop innovative technologies to increase crop productivity in Brazil using nitrogen-fixing bacteria as a sustainable source of fixed nitrogen. In turn this will reduce the input of chemical fertilisers in agriculture and mitigate the environmental and economic impacts of reactive nitrogen pollution. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | UK-Brazil Nitrogen Fixation Centre (BBSRC-CONFAP VJC Nitrogen) |
| Organisation | Federal University of Paraná |
| Country | Brazil |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | WP2.2 Isolate and characterize epiphytic and endophytic bacteria from C4 plants and select the most efficient strains in terms of plant growth promotion WP2.3 Molecular tagging to visualise colonisation and localisation in planta WP2.4 Phenomics analysis of plant growth in response to inoculation under limited nitrogen and/or water WP3 Identify genetic components required for efficient crop-microbe interactions |
| Collaborator Contribution | WP1 Strategies for engineering ammonium excretion in diazotrophic endophytes WP2.1 Devise selection strategies to isolate efficient endophytes using serial inoculation WP2.5 Quantitate nitrogen fixation using 15N WP4. Evaluate the effectiveness of inoculants in field trials |
| Impact | UK-Brazil Nitrogen Fixation Centre (BBSRC-CONFAP). We are a virtual joint centre working to develop innovative technologies to increase crop productivity in Brazil using nitrogen-fixing bacteria as a sustainable source of fixed nitrogen. In turn this will reduce the input of chemical fertilisers in agriculture and mitigate the environmental and economic impacts of reactive nitrogen pollution. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | UK-Brazil Nitrogen Fixation Centre (BBSRC-CONFAP VJC Nitrogen) |
| Organisation | Federal University of Rio de Janeiro |
| Country | Brazil |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | WP2.2 Isolate and characterize epiphytic and endophytic bacteria from C4 plants and select the most efficient strains in terms of plant growth promotion WP2.3 Molecular tagging to visualise colonisation and localisation in planta WP2.4 Phenomics analysis of plant growth in response to inoculation under limited nitrogen and/or water WP3 Identify genetic components required for efficient crop-microbe interactions |
| Collaborator Contribution | WP1 Strategies for engineering ammonium excretion in diazotrophic endophytes WP2.1 Devise selection strategies to isolate efficient endophytes using serial inoculation WP2.5 Quantitate nitrogen fixation using 15N WP4. Evaluate the effectiveness of inoculants in field trials |
| Impact | UK-Brazil Nitrogen Fixation Centre (BBSRC-CONFAP). We are a virtual joint centre working to develop innovative technologies to increase crop productivity in Brazil using nitrogen-fixing bacteria as a sustainable source of fixed nitrogen. In turn this will reduce the input of chemical fertilisers in agriculture and mitigate the environmental and economic impacts of reactive nitrogen pollution. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | UK-Brazil Nitrogen Fixation Centre (BBSRC-CONFAP VJC Nitrogen) |
| Organisation | James Hutton Institute |
| Department | Ecological Sciences |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | WP2.2 Isolate and characterize epiphytic and endophytic bacteria from C4 plants and select the most efficient strains in terms of plant growth promotion WP2.3 Molecular tagging to visualise colonisation and localisation in planta WP2.4 Phenomics analysis of plant growth in response to inoculation under limited nitrogen and/or water WP3 Identify genetic components required for efficient crop-microbe interactions |
| Collaborator Contribution | WP1 Strategies for engineering ammonium excretion in diazotrophic endophytes WP2.1 Devise selection strategies to isolate efficient endophytes using serial inoculation WP2.5 Quantitate nitrogen fixation using 15N WP4. Evaluate the effectiveness of inoculants in field trials |
| Impact | UK-Brazil Nitrogen Fixation Centre (BBSRC-CONFAP). We are a virtual joint centre working to develop innovative technologies to increase crop productivity in Brazil using nitrogen-fixing bacteria as a sustainable source of fixed nitrogen. In turn this will reduce the input of chemical fertilisers in agriculture and mitigate the environmental and economic impacts of reactive nitrogen pollution. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | UK-Brazil Nitrogen Fixation Centre (BBSRC-CONFAP VJC Nitrogen) |
| Organisation | John Innes Centre |
| Department | Molecular Microbiology |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | WP2.2 Isolate and characterize epiphytic and endophytic bacteria from C4 plants and select the most efficient strains in terms of plant growth promotion WP2.3 Molecular tagging to visualise colonisation and localisation in planta WP2.4 Phenomics analysis of plant growth in response to inoculation under limited nitrogen and/or water WP3 Identify genetic components required for efficient crop-microbe interactions |
| Collaborator Contribution | WP1 Strategies for engineering ammonium excretion in diazotrophic endophytes WP2.1 Devise selection strategies to isolate efficient endophytes using serial inoculation WP2.5 Quantitate nitrogen fixation using 15N WP4. Evaluate the effectiveness of inoculants in field trials |
| Impact | UK-Brazil Nitrogen Fixation Centre (BBSRC-CONFAP). We are a virtual joint centre working to develop innovative technologies to increase crop productivity in Brazil using nitrogen-fixing bacteria as a sustainable source of fixed nitrogen. In turn this will reduce the input of chemical fertilisers in agriculture and mitigate the environmental and economic impacts of reactive nitrogen pollution. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | UK-Brazil Nitrogen Fixation Centre (BBSRC-CONFAP VJC Nitrogen) |
| Organisation | State University of the North of Parana |
| Country | Brazil |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | WP2.2 Isolate and characterize epiphytic and endophytic bacteria from C4 plants and select the most efficient strains in terms of plant growth promotion WP2.3 Molecular tagging to visualise colonisation and localisation in planta WP2.4 Phenomics analysis of plant growth in response to inoculation under limited nitrogen and/or water WP3 Identify genetic components required for efficient crop-microbe interactions |
| Collaborator Contribution | WP1 Strategies for engineering ammonium excretion in diazotrophic endophytes WP2.1 Devise selection strategies to isolate efficient endophytes using serial inoculation WP2.5 Quantitate nitrogen fixation using 15N WP4. Evaluate the effectiveness of inoculants in field trials |
| Impact | UK-Brazil Nitrogen Fixation Centre (BBSRC-CONFAP). We are a virtual joint centre working to develop innovative technologies to increase crop productivity in Brazil using nitrogen-fixing bacteria as a sustainable source of fixed nitrogen. In turn this will reduce the input of chemical fertilisers in agriculture and mitigate the environmental and economic impacts of reactive nitrogen pollution. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | UK-Brazil Nitrogen Fixation Centre (BBSRC-CONFAP VJC Nitrogen) |
| Organisation | University of Oxford |
| Department | Department of Plant Sciences |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | WP2.2 Isolate and characterize epiphytic and endophytic bacteria from C4 plants and select the most efficient strains in terms of plant growth promotion WP2.3 Molecular tagging to visualise colonisation and localisation in planta WP2.4 Phenomics analysis of plant growth in response to inoculation under limited nitrogen and/or water WP3 Identify genetic components required for efficient crop-microbe interactions |
| Collaborator Contribution | WP1 Strategies for engineering ammonium excretion in diazotrophic endophytes WP2.1 Devise selection strategies to isolate efficient endophytes using serial inoculation WP2.5 Quantitate nitrogen fixation using 15N WP4. Evaluate the effectiveness of inoculants in field trials |
| Impact | UK-Brazil Nitrogen Fixation Centre (BBSRC-CONFAP). We are a virtual joint centre working to develop innovative technologies to increase crop productivity in Brazil using nitrogen-fixing bacteria as a sustainable source of fixed nitrogen. In turn this will reduce the input of chemical fertilisers in agriculture and mitigate the environmental and economic impacts of reactive nitrogen pollution. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | UNDERSTANDING AND EXPLOITING BIOLOGICAL NITROGEN FIXATION FOR IMPROVEMENT OF BRAZILIAN AGRICULTURE |
| Organisation | John Innes Centre |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Co-I on Virtual Joint Centre award |
| Collaborator Contribution | PI and Co-Is on Virtual Joint Centre award |
| Impact | Due to start 2016 |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Welsh School of Architecture |
| Organisation | Cardiff University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| PI Contribution | This project brings together grassland scientists, architects and landscape architects to increase the resilience of green infrastructures in the built environment in the UK and in Asia. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The Welsh School of Architecture bring expertise on the modelling and design of green buildings and infrastructure including expertise in Asia and especially in Hong Kong. |
| Impact | The project is ongoing and no outputs or outcomes have arisen yet. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Title | Licencing of 10 hybrids for commercial upscaling to Terravesta Ltd. |
| Description | Selected novel hybrids bred during GIANT LINK (known as the GNT hybrids) were scaled up in MUST. Ten have been licenced to Terravesta. |
| IP Reference | |
| Protection | Trade Mark |
| Year Protection Granted | 2019 |
| Licensed | Commercial In Confidence |
| Impact | This allows Terravesta to attract investment |
| Title | Miscanthus variety Aphrodite |
| Description | Plant variety protection granted by CPVO. Application number 20203045 |
| IP Reference | |
| Protection | Patent / Patent application |
| Year Protection Granted | 2023 |
| Licensed | Yes |
| Impact | Licenced to Terravesta |
| Title | Miscanthus variety Artemis |
| Description | Plant variety protection granted by CPVO. Application number 20203043 |
| IP Reference | |
| Protection | Patent / Patent application |
| Year Protection Granted | 2023 |
| Licensed | Yes |
| Impact | Licenced to Terravesta |
| Title | Miscanthus variety Astraea |
| Description | Plant variety protection granted by CPVO. Application number 20183177, title number 61076. |
| IP Reference | |
| Protection | Patent / Patent application |
| Year Protection Granted | 2022 |
| Licensed | Yes |
| Impact | Licenced to Terravesta |
| Title | Miscanthus variety Atropos |
| Description | Plant variety protection granted by CPVO. Application number 20183176, title number 61073. |
| IP Reference | |
| Protection | Patent / Patent application |
| Year Protection Granted | 2022 |
| Licensed | Yes |
| Impact | Licenced to Terravesta |
| Title | Miscanthus variety Bia |
| Description | Plant variety protection granted by CPVO. Application number 20193246, title number 61030. |
| IP Reference | |
| Protection | Patent / Patent application |
| Year Protection Granted | 2022 |
| Licensed | Yes |
| Impact | Licenced To Terravesta. |
| Title | Miscanthus variety Boreas |
| Description | Plant variety protection granted by CPVO. Application number 20203044 |
| IP Reference | |
| Protection | Patent / Patent application |
| Year Protection Granted | 2023 |
| Licensed | Yes |
| Impact | Licenced to Terravesta |
| Title | Miscanthus variety Brontes |
| Description | Plant variety protection granted by CPVO. Application number 20203046 |
| IP Reference | |
| Protection | Patent / Patent application |
| Year Protection Granted | 2023 |
| Licensed | Yes |
| Impact | Licenced to Terravesta |
| Description | (online rescheduled from a physical) Visit by the Wales Official Tourist Guides Association (WOTGA) |
| 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 | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation given to the Wales Official Tourist Guides Association (WOTGA) CPD session on the topic "Everything you ever wanted to know about grass and were afraid to ask!" which was an overview of IBERS science and the impact of its work on the Welsh landscape from forage grasses, clovers and oats through to elephant grass. This was going to be a physical visit to Gogerddan but was rescheduled to be online following the COVID-19 pandemic. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | 25 plant science undergraduates from Edge Hill Uni |
| 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 | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Visit by 25 plant science undergraduates from Edge Hill Uni, led by Dr Svan Batke |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Aberbeen departmental seminar: 8-9 May 2019 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Discussion with students and staff on the opportunity for biomass to contribute to Net zero |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Aberystwyth University Science Fair 2019 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Every year during Science Week, 1700+ school children and their teachers visit Aber to be enthused about science via a diverse range of hand-on exhibits. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Articles for Biochemical Society's blog |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Experience communicating with a wider audience about the experience of being a PhD student and the research project. Raise awareness of the research group. https://thebiochemistblog.com/2017/05/18/phyte-club-inside-the-plant-microbiome/ https://thebiochemistblog.com/2017/03/27/the-very-best-things-about-phd-life/ |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://thebiochemistblog.com/2017/05/18/phyte-club-inside-the-plant-microbiome/ |
| Description | Attend and present at the DIT Game Changing Technology for Agriculture event (One great George Street, London) |
| 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 | Iain Donnison gave the Keynote Presentation for the session on Game Changing Innovation for the Circular Economy to UK and international industry and policymakers. The presentation resulted in multiple questions and discussion afterwards which have the potential to increase industry collaboration in the UK and internationally. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Azerbaijan Ambassador |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | The Azerbaijan Ambassador visited to learn more about IBERS research and training including the Core Strategic Programme on resilient crops and had a tour of the National Plant Phenomics Centre. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | BBC interview and filming following publication of the Miscanthus Genome sequencing and latest Government announcements on Green Growth. |
| 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 | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | BBC media interviews and filming following the publication of the Miscanthus genome sequence. This was part of a large international collaboration involving scientists in US, Japan, Ireland and the UK. Publication on BBC site titled: "Climate change: Aberystwyth elephant grass research could help unlock greener energy" |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-54990548 |
| Description | BEACON Conference |
| 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 | A workshop was held as part of the BEACON Conference to discuss the development of a Welsh bioeconomy strategy. This involved engagement with industry, local government in Wales, Welsh Government and BEIS. Engagement from Scotland and English regions indicated the value and the workshop has led to one further meeting with ourselves, Welsh Government and BEIS on the bioeconomy as a result and an intent to meet again. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | BT Innovation for Wales |
| 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 | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | Discussion with BT on developing remotely operated drone capability |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Bioeconomy 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 | Germany are leaders in the development of the bioeconomy, and three of the Aberystwyth and Terravesta team were heavily involved in the feedstock supply side of this event. I was a session chair. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://biooekonomie-bw.uni-hohenheim.de/startseite |
| Description | Botany One Blog on background to Miscanthus Genome and Flowering Time Mapping publications |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Botany One Blog on the background to the publication of two Miscanthus publications (on the Miscanthus Genome and on flowering time control) both involving significant international collaboration. The Blog provided more of the human story behind the science and the international collaborations, that led to the work. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.botany.one/2020/11/a-step-to-the-biofuels-of-the-future/ |
| Description | British Science Week |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | 2016 - PhD students presented a poster of their research project with an audience of school children and teachers. Posters were later copied and sent to teachers for display in schools. Students from 9 Secondary schools were in attendance over the course of the week. 2017 - PhD students organised and ran a stand for the three day event, supervising a team of undergraduate students. • A three day event demonstrating chemical changes and properties to early secondary school aged children from several local schools using hands-on experiments they could try. • Voted third place out of around 40 different stands at the event. • Over 3000 schoolchildren attended over the event. • Video online including PhD student talking about endophytes https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/news/archive/2017/03/title-198574-en.html |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016,2017 |
| URL | https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/news/archive/2017/03/title-198574-en.html |
| Description | CEREALS 2019: 12-13 June 2019 |
| 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 | Our IBERS MUST team joined Terravesta Ltd. on the stand for both days. An important outcome was the engagement of stakeholders in different parts of the biomass value chain. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.cerealsevent.co.uk/ |
| Description | CEUG workshop |
| 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 | The UK Controlled Environment Association held its annual meeting in Aberystwyth . Tours were provided for the NPPC and a lecture provided to the meeting |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.ceug.ac.uk/event/2023-uk-ceug-meeting-at-aberystwyth-university/ |
| Description | Chaired and led a discussion on net zero at the Wales Real Food and Farming Conference |
| 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 | Chaired and led a discussion on net zero at the Wales Real Food and Farming Conference "What might Welsh agriculture look like in the zero-carbon society of 2050?" |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://wrffc.wales/cynhadledd-2020-conference/dydd-iau-thursday/ |
| Description | Coordinator of FoodBioSystems DTP visit |
| 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 | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Visit by FBS DTP on fact-finding tour of participating organisations |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Dr Kun visit |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | From the Institute of Vegetables and Flowers, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, on a fact finding mission |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Early Career Researcher Networking Session |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Participated in the Networking session for Early Career Researchers at Networking session at the Sustainable Agriculture Conference, 9th Feb 2022, online. I gave a presentation and participated in the Q&A session. The session was well received, with lots of engagement from participants. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://sustainable-agriculture.b2match.io/speakers |
| Description | Engagement on alternative aviation fuels in Washington |
| 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 | A half day engagement activity on alternative aviation fuels in Washington, USA following the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative (CAAFI) meeting between industry, academia and policymakers. The engagement was to build understanding and links between UK, USA and Canada. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010,2018 |
| Description | Engagement with NFU local and national vice-president |
| 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 | Engagement with NFU local farmers and representatives and the UK national vice-president (Stuart Roberts) to discuss food and farming including agricultural education and careers with early career researchers and in a panel session discussion with final year students. Further plans were discussed in relation to a public lecture on the future of food as part of the 100 years of plant breeding in Aberystwyth in late March in 2019, which will have a larger public and total engagement. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | http://www.aber.ac.uk/en/ibers/news/news-article/title-221473-en.html |
| Description | Evening talk and discussion at the Wales Real Food & Farming Conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | An Evening talk and discussion at the Wales Real Food & Farming Conference on "How can we make Wales a productive landscape in the 21st century? Lessons from the agricultural pioneers Thomas Johnes and George Stapledon". |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://wrffc.wales/cynhadledd-2020-conference/dydd-llun-monday-16/ |
| Description | Event with First Minister, Mark Drakeford, to mark 10 years of investment to build a greener economy |
| 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 | Event with First Minister, Mark Drakeford, to mark 10 years of investment to build a greener economy. The event celebrated 10 years of the BEACON project, which promotes collaboration to grow the economy and creates green jobs. Since its launch in 2010, the £30+ million EU funded BEACON project has built up a strong skill base in the bio business sector, by providing collaborative R&D support for green Welsh businesses; and positioning Wales as a leader in world class research and innovation into the low carbon economy. The BEACON project is now based in the Biorefining laboratories in the BBSRC, Welsh Government and Aberystwyth University funded Aberystwyth Innovation & Enterprise Campus. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/news/archive/2020/10/title-236207-en.html |
| Description | Fascination of plants, Aberaeron |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Staff ran a stall, aimed at introducing plant biology and crop breeding to the general public. The exhibits were "hands on" and illustrated bio-diversity, adaptation as well as the use of technology to study and improve plants/crops |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Food and Farming Futures / NFU Seminar: institutional frameworks to support a world-leading farming and food industry |
| 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 | Event to discuss "Do we have the right institutional framework in place to support a world-leading farming and food industry to deliver the ever-challenging needs of society?" The seminar built on the thinking of a recent industry-wide discussion reflecting that UK agriculture faces an unprecedented opportunity to take the driving seat for delivering society's needs; producing healthy food that helps to tackle the rise in diet-related human diseases, whilst protecting our precious environmental resources and which also helps to mitigate climate change, soil health, water and air quality. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Hosted visit from NFU on Net Zero Agriculture |
| 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 | Hosted a visit from a senior NFU team on their target for agriculture to be Net Zero by 2040. IBERS, including Core Strategic Programme (CSP) Science, was presented to describe how emissions can be decreased from ruminant livestock agriculture and what options there are for diversification into negative emission farming. The discussions included IBERS staff from all four CSP sub-programmes |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | ITV-wales interview for "Wales This Week" current affairs programme |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Interview & filming footage for ITV-wales: 30 minute programme on the use of AI in Wales |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Industrial Decarbonisation Research & Innovation Centre (IDRIC) Ideas Factory workshop |
| 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 | Attended the Industrial Decarbonisation Research & Innovation Centre (IDRIC) Ideas Factory workshop at Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh. Engaged with a number of industrial clusters on how urban and rural decarbonisation strategies can be linked up. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://idric.org/events/ |
| Description | Low Carbon Agriculture Show 2022 (Stoneleigh), Panel Debate: Decarbonising Welsh Agriculture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Iain Donnison was a panel member for the Debate on "Decarbonising Welsh Agriculture" at the Low Carbon Agriculture show at NAEC, Stoneleigh, Warwickshire. The event involved Welsh Government, NFU-Cymru, industry and the third sector with Prof Donnison representing academia. There was an audience of several hundred primarily from industry and the initial presentation sparked questions and subsequent discussion. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://lowcarbonagricultureshow.co.uk |
| Description | Low Carbon Agriculture Show 2023 (Stoneleigh) |
| 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 | Produced media, (banners and handouts) for stall manned for 2 days to engage with attendees. Questions on use and availability of Miscanthus crop plus impacts on co-benefits including flood mitigation and end uses such as biochar. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Low Carbon Cymru 2018 |
| 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 | Low Carbon Cymru 2018 brought together academics and professionals from across Wales in the Low Carbon Research Institute (LCRI) themes of marine energy, wind, bioenergy, solar, gas and hydrogen and the built environment with the aim of developing a low carbon Wales. The workshop showcased the achievements of researchers within the pan Wales LCRI over the last ten years and looked at how the LCRI can continue to play a role in addressing the challenges of the future. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | http://www.cynnalcymru.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Low-Carbon-Cymru-2018-Agenda.pdf |
| Description | MISCOMAR conference Katowice, Poland |
| 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 | The event included scientific presentations, presentations from industrial partners and a debate on next steps and policy. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | http://www.miscomar.eu/ |
| Description | MUST Project Stakeholder Field Safari: 28 August 2019 |
| 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 | A field display the the crops and the machinery developed during the MUST project |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Meeting with Government Office for Science |
| 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 | Meeting with three members of the Government Office for Science Team at IBERS, Aberystwyth on agricultural productivity gaps in grassland science. The following topics were discussed: Upland grasslands; Plant breeding; Farming extension; and International grasslands research which included Colombia as an example of the potential for impact internationally to for example increase stocking density and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, both targets of the Colombian Government. This raised awareness of issues in grassland and upland agriculture in the UK and internationally, and has identified specific areas for future policy engagement. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Miscanthus field visit and information day |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Up to 50 farmers, policymakers and innovation focused researchers from Wales, UK and Europe visited Aberystwyth University Miscanthus trial sites including a 6 ha site long term site for environmental monitoring and providing material for animal bedding, a local livestock farmer using Miscanthus as animal bedding for sheep and cattle, and new variety trials at approx. 1,000 feet at the Aberystwyth University Pwllpeiran experimental farm. The visit attracted questions and interest from farmers, and policymakers on the alternative uses for Miscanthus beyond energy and also the ability to grow it in the uplands. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Panel Discussion - Climate Change - Evidence Gaps and Research Priorities |
| 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 | Environment Evidence 2020 - Resilience in the Welsh Uplands. Panel Discussion - Climate Change - Evidence Gaps and Research Priorities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Participate in Royal Society Net Zero Aviation Workshop in London on 14 March 2022 |
| 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 | Attended workshop which is proposed to lead to a report by the Royal Society on Alternative Aviation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Presentation at Resilience in the Welsh Uplands - An Evidence Perspective (Environment Evidence 2020) |
| 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 | Presentation at Resilience in the Welsh Uplands - An Evidence Perspective (Environment Evidence 2020) on the topic of "Reshaping the Welsh landscape to achieve potential of upland agriculture under current and future climate". |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://pure.aber.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/reshaping-the-welsh-landscape-to-achieve-potential-of... |
| Description | Resilient green infrastructures and cities |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Meeting with Taipei Representative Office in the UK including Representative Amb. David Yung-Lo Lin and Director of Science and Technology Division Prof Jiun-Huei Proty Wu on future cities and green infrastructure and UK-Taiwan opportunities for collaboration. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Royal College of Defense visit |
| 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 | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Visit by Royal College of Defense personnel interested in sensors and surveillance |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Royal Welsh Agricultural Show |
| 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 | Core Strategic Programme for Resilience staff were involved in displays and engagement activities at the Royal Welsh Agricultural Show, Builth Wells and discussed climate change mitigation through plants and also the potential of Miscanthus in farm diversification for energy, building materials, chemicals and animal bedding. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017,2018 |
| URL | https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/ibers/news/events/rws/ |
| Description | Royal Welsh Show 2019 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Royal Welsh Show activities to communicate IBERS grassland science to a wide range of audiences. This included communication on new varieties and cropping systems as well as plant and animal health including a debate on bovine TB. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/news/archive/2019/07/title-224640-en.html |
| Description | Royal Welsh Show: 22 July 2019 |
| 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 | The Royal Welsh is a very large event with a strong outreach to the public as well as those involved in the sector. Discussions between stands were ongoing, and have led to important Welsh policy links. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://rwas.wales/royal-welsh/ |
| Description | Scandinavian Phenotyping network visit |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Erik Alexandersson and several colleagues from Nordic region visited to inspect advanced phenomic facilities |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | School visit |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Following the press release for the Miscanthus Genome publication I was invited to meet with the A-level Biology class at a local secondary school. I gave a brief presentation on my work on Miscanthus for bioenergy and bioproducts, the importance of genomics, beneficial bacterial endophytes, and career opportunities in Plant Science. This was followed by a lively question and answer session. The group was small but vey engaged, with two of the students interested in a career in the field. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Sept 2023 delegation from China |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A group of Chinese Researchers from Nanjing, Wuhan and Shanghai visited for 2 days, gave and listened to seminars |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Small Nation, Big Ideas - Video for COP26 week |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | The videos were showcased on the Wales Climate Week website and other COP26 related activities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgrermDAnbw |
| Description | Sustainable Agriculture for the 21st Century through Interdisciplinary exploration in Wales |
| 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 | Iain Donnison gave a keynote presentation jointly with Karin Metzlaff of EPSO on European collaboration on sustainable agriculture. Dr Metzlaff described the opportunities that exist for collaboration and Prof Donnison described case studies from IBERS participation in current and recently completed projects which included those on Miscanthus from the GRACE and OPTIMISC projects. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://sustainable-agriculture.b2match.io |
| Description | The Miscanthus bale house |
| 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 | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Collaboration with the Centre of Alternative Technology (third sector) and industry (Terravesta) to build the worlds first Miscanthus bale house which attracted interest and interviews from BBC, and was picked up on by the press (newspapers and trade magazines etc) and national radio (Farming today). The project generated interest from eco-building organisations and local councils and has led to joint projects being discussed/ developed for funding applications. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-mid-wales-41088441 |
| Description | Various student engagement activities |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | IBERS Excellence with Impact Poster session. 28th April 2016 • Presenting a poster of my research plans as part of the IBERS EWI event • 80-100 people attended the event. Presentation to School Teachers. 8th June 2016 • A ten minute oral presentation of research project to secondary school teachers. • 20-30 teachers were in attendance. Public Engagement Poster Session. 18th June 2016 • Presented a research poster to an audience of the general public. • Over 100 people attended World Food Day poster. 16th October 2016 • Public outreach event marking World Food Day, organised and hosted with fellow postgraduate students. • The event illustrated the journey of food from production, through processing, to consumption, and waste, and highlighting environmental impacts. • ~50 people attended. Science and Energy Lecture. 19th May 2017 • Delivering a 2 hour lecture to primary school children on energy changes, with hands on demonstrations of a range of experiments. • Groups from three primary schools were in attendance, totalling over 80 children. • There will hopefully be a repeat of this event 2018. Worcester Postgraduate Research Conference 29th June 2017 • 15 minute oral research presentation to a conference session of academic researchers and other postgraduate students from a range of disciplines and institutions. • 80-100 people were at the event. Online Outreach • Blog (friendlybacteria.wordpress.com) writing about Science (mainly microbiology) for a general audience. I'm not sure how many people this has reached. • Social Media: use of Instagram to post about Science and Nature (@friendly_bacteria) and Twitter to do the same (@frndlybacteria). Over 500 followers on Instagram and nearly 1300 on Twitter. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016,2017 |
| Description | WATBIO Stakeholder meeting |
| 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 | Multidisciplinary research was presented detailing, glasshouse, phenomics, modelling, molecular analysis and mapping populations used to improve understanding of water stress responses in Miscanthus. This research was presented to a mixed audience of academics, industry and representatives of the EU. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014,2015,2016,2017 |
| URL | http://www.watbio.eu/ |
| Description | Wales Tech week |
| 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 | We hosted a remotely operated drone for BT, which was flown for the event |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Welsh Government carbon saving case study |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | An exemplar written case study demonstrating action being taken to address the climate emergency. This activity forms part of a broader programme of collaborative activity with local authorities across Wales, the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) and UK Government's Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) around COP26 and beyond. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://carboncopy.eco/ |
| Description | Working with Cows on Tour to engage with schools and the public on agriculture and food, and in 2019 linked into the role of plant breeding and the 100th anniversary of Plant breeding |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | We are working with Cows on Tour to engage with schools and the public on agriculture and food, and in 2019 have linked this to the role of plant breeding and the 100th anniversary of Plant breeding in Aberystwyth. We have met to discuss events and have started a series of engagements over the year, including some new ones for IBERS. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | http://www.welshcountry.co.uk/cows-on-tour-go-all-out-jurassic-farm/ |
| Description | Ystwyth Valley Farmers Discussion 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 | An open evening event for the Ystwyth Valley Discussion Group, a group of about 25 local farmers and landowners to discuss the role of science and plant breeding for grassland farming. The event including a presentation, discussion and tours of the National Plant Phenomics Centre as an example of how modern technology is driving grassland science and the BEACON Biorefining Centre as an example of how more value can be created from grasslands and agricultural residues. There has been subsequent interest in learning more about IBERS science, particularly in the uplands, the use of oats again for livestock, and in the new varieties that are available and so plans are being made for further visits to the Pwllpeiran upland platform and to the forage grass and legume plots in the summer. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | visit Lord Bourne Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Wales Office |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Discussion on agricultural research and education, including in industrial biotechnology, and a tour and discussion of the role of the National Plant Phenomics Centre as a National Facility, and its role in training. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2008,2018 |