Unlocking the science behind traditional farmer practices: An interview with Muneta Grace Kangara
November 24, 2021
Muneta Grace Kangara is a Research Fellow on the Translating GeoNutrition: Supporting policies to reduce mineral micronutrient deficiencies in Zimbabwe project. She was recently awarded a Rank Prize Visionary Award for Early Career Researchers in Nutrition (2021). We spoke to Muneta about her work, how she became a researcher, and why she is passionate about …
The clever roots of bambara groundnut: an interview with Kumbirai Ivyne Mateva
August 16, 2021
We interviewed Kumbirai Ivyne Mateva, a final year PhD student in the School of Biosciences and the Future Food Beacon based at the University of Nottingham Malaysia (UNMC), about his research. Kumbirai’s current research focuses on improving productivity, quality and value of food crops, especially underutilised species. His PhD is titled: ‘Root trait variation and its …
When does rice not like water? – An interview with Gavers Oppong
February 26, 2021
Gavers Oppong is a second-year PhD student on the UoN-Rothamsted Graduate Centre for International Agriculture scheme. His project is titled ‘Understanding the mechanism for hypoxia tolerance in rice’. He is supervised by Prof. Frederica Theodoulou and Dr Smita Kurup (RRes) and Dr Darren Wells and Dr Jonathan Atkinson (UoN) Why did you decide to …
Following the flight of the bumble bee – An interview with Chloe Sargent
February 23, 2021
Chloe Sargent is a UoN-Rothamsted PhD candidate. Her project is entitled ‘Risk assessment of sub-lethal insecticide exposure: new biomarkers and metrics in bees’. She is supervised by Dr Reinhard Stoger (UoN), Prof Emyr Davies (Rothamsted Research) and Dr Lisa Chakrabarti (UoN). Why did you decide to do a PhD? What were you doing before? Before …
Exploring diversity in pearl millet seed – An interview with Brighton Gapare
February 12, 2021
Brighton Gapare is a joint Nottingham-Rothamsted PhD Student 2019–2023. His project is entitled ‘Exploring genetic diversity in grain structure, composition and functionality of pearl millet germplasm’. His supervisors are Dr. Rahul Bhosale (UoN), Prof. Malcom Bennett (UoN) and Prof. Peter Shewry (RRes). He also works with Dr Neil Graham (UoN), Prof. David Cook (UoN), Prof. …
Plant vaccines for poultry disease – An interview with Ika Nurzijah
February 4, 2021
Ika Nurzijah is a second-year PhD student on the UoN-Rothamsted Graduate Centre for International Agriculture scheme. Her project is titled ‘Plant-based vaccines for prevention of poultry viral diseases: Newcastle disease’. She is supervised by Dr Steve Dunham (UoN), Dr Kostya Kanyuka (RRes), and Dr Janet Daly (UoN). Why did you decide to do a PhD? …
How does rice reproduce when it’s hot? – An interview with Maureen Ng’ang’a
January 29, 2021
Maureen Ng’ang’a is a second-year PhD student on the UoN-Rothamsted Graduate Centre for International Agriculture scheme. Her project is entitled ‘TempR: Developing reproductive resilience to heat stress in rice’. Her supervisors are: Dr. Sigrid Heuer (RRes), Prof. Zoe Wilson (UoN) and Prof. Erik Murchie (UoN). Why did you decide to do a PhD? What were …
Humanity’s impact on earth – An interview with Matt Jones
November 20, 2020
Professor Matthew Jones is leading the Palaeobenchmarking Resilient Agricultural Systems (PalaeoRAS) project. He is based in the School of Geography. Tell me about your work. What do you study? I’m a Quaternary Scientist, a geologist with a particular interest in the last 2.5 million years of Earth’s history (the Quaternary Period). My own work focusses on the last 20,000 years, the time period since …
Screening heat tolerance in rice plants – An interview with John Ferguson
November 17, 2020
Photo by marianne bos on Unsplash John Ferguson is a postdoctoral research fellow on the Palaeobenchmarking Resilient Agricultural Systems (PalaeoRAS) project Tell me about your work. What do you study? I am plant ecophysiologist. I perform experiments to understand how plants respond to environment stress. We use the results from these experiments to link variation in the plant’s responses to genetic variation. This …
Reconstructing the ecosystems of the past – An interview with Annegreet Veeken
November 12, 2020
Annegreet Veeken is a PhD student on the Palaeobenchmarking Resilient Agricultural Systems (PalaeoRAS) project Why did you decide to do a PhD? What were you doing before? I had a year between ending my masters and starting my PhD. During that year, I worked part-time at a Dutch environmental NGO as a project assistant in water quality and …
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