// Latest Posts

Understanding plant-microbiota interactions: An interview with Katerina Velchova.

Katerina Velchova is a PhD candidate in the Graduate Centre for International Agriculture. Their research project is titled: Microbiome-root-shoot axis: A microbial approach for heavy metalloids toxicity in plant systems, and they are supervised by Dr Gabriel Castrillo. Why did you decide to do a PhD? What were you doing before? Previously I completed an …

Reducing disease in oilseed rape: An interview with Lisa Humbert

Lisa Humbert is a PhD candidate with the Graduate Centre for International Agriculture, a joint partnership between the University of Nottingham’s Future Food Beacon and Rothamsted Research. Lisa’s project is titled “Fungal sex factors as novel antifungal compounds for control of plant disease.” They are supervised by Dr David Withall (RRes), Prof Paul Dyer (UoN) …

Swift: A ten minute coffee with Dr Michael Pound

Michael Pound was recently promoted to Associate Professor in the School of Computer Science. Mike was a Nottingham Research Fellow with the Future Food Beacon before becoming an Assistant Prof. Tell us about your research in 10 words or less… I use machine learning to quickly analyse biological images. Now, explain your research for a …

Swift: A ten minute coffee with Dr Gabriel Castrillo

Dr Gabriel Castrillo is an Associate Professor in Plant Microbiomes and a member of the Future Food Beacon, where he started out as a Nottingham Research Fellow.  Tell us about your research in 10 words or less… I examine plants interactions with microbes in the area of nutrition. Now, explain your research for a lay …

Take control of your career #4: Writing the narrative of your work

This post is written by Dr Peter Noy, Associate Director of Research for the Future Food Beacon. Over the last few months I have been giving talks on how to navigate your career to achieve research independence. The single theme that runs throughout these talks is developing a clear narrative for your career story. To …

Open letter from Prof David E Salt, Director of the Future Food Beacon of Excellence

Following on from the recent announcement by Zoe Wilson PVC Science (5th April, 2022) that I will be stepping down as the Director of the Future Food Beacon on the 31st July 2022, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for all your support and hard work. Your willingness to contribute to …

Improving animal feeds for the future: An interview with Noriane Cochetel

Noriane Cochetel is a PhD candidate with the Future Proteins Platform. Her supervisors are Ying Zhang, Tim Parr, John Brameld and Andrew Salter. Prior to beginning a PhD Noriane was completing her six-months placement in a research institute, Nofima, in Ås, Norway, as part of the programme from her MSc in Nutrition and Food Science. …

Understanding the keys of adaptation in plants: An interview with Dr Raziyeh Abdilzadeh

Raziyeh Abdilzadeh is a postdoctoral fellow working with Prof Levi Yant on Preadapt: revealing the basis of whole genome duplication-mediated adaption, a Leverhulme funded project. Razi joins the Future Food Beacon from the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad where she completed her PhD in 2020. Tell us about your role I am a postdoc research fellow …

Swift: A ten minute coffee with Prof Malcolm Bennett

Malcolm Bennett is a Professor of Plant Science and a member of the Future Food Beacon leadership team. He was recently recognised as one of the most Highly Cited Researchers 2021 by Clarivate Analytics (based on data from Web of Science).  Tell us about your research in 10 words or less… Futureproofing crops by discovering …