** Projects now available to apply to for fully-funded 4 year PhD studentships starting in Sept 2025 **
Application deadline: Midnight (23:59pm GMT), Wednesday 11 December 2024
What research areas does this theme include?
This theme encompasses:
- all aspects of animal welfare and productivity for farmed/managed animals. It can include environmental impacts of such livestock including water quality, as well as any concerns relating to downstream food chain issues such as microbiological safety and food quality.
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plant physiology, genetics and development. It includes both model and crop species and all aspects of crop breeding, productivity, crop protection (pathogen and pest management). In addition, all aspects of soil as a major resource (ecosystem services) including soil formation, function, health and includes the impacts of agriculture on the environment and environmental protection.
What *CASE, *AP and *JD mean?
*CASE: These are CASE DTP studentships. As part of the programme, you will be required to undertake a placement with the CASE partner for a minimum of 3 months.
*AP: These are Standard DTP studentships with an associate partner where you will be required to spend time with each of the partners. You will be asked to apply to one of the partners (as listed in the 'Host Institution' column), but this is just for administration purposes. You will then be registered for your postgraduate studies at one of the partner universities of the lead supervisors. Your registered university will be confirmed by the DTP following the interview stage of the selection process.
*JD: This project is in collaboration with the University of Bristol and the University of the West of England (UWE) and subject to a joint degree award. Successful applicants will be registered at both these institutions, and graduates will be awarded a joint degree from these two institutions upon successful completion of the PhD programme.
What does host institution mean?
The 'host institution' is where you will be mainly based throughout your PhD.
Of note, some projects may involve fieldwork or time away from the listed host institution for e.g. time spent with others within your supervisory team, collaborating university, collaborator or on a CASE/PIPS placement.
Meet our supervisors: To help you decide on your PhD project, you can gain a detailed insight into the working style of the main supervisor and the research environment you will be part of, by visiting our meet our supervisors webpage or ‘clicking’ on the supervisor listed in bold below. You can also find out more about the second supervisor by ‘clicking’ on their name below.
How to apply: You apply to the listed ‘ host institution’ (unless otherwise indicated in the table below) via the ‘apply now’ button. You will then be taken to the institutional application forms with guidance and further information on submitting an application.
| PROJECT TITLE |
MAIN SUPERVISORY TEAM Main supervisor (bold) + second supervisor – Or equivalents |
HOST INSTITUTION | KEYWORDS |
| Characterising secondary metabolite-based aphid resistance mechanisms from ancestral introgressions into modern wheat | Rothamsted Research (Harpenden) (Apply to University of Exeter) |
Wheat, Aphids, Chemical ecology, Entomology, Bioinformatics | |
| Closing the Door: Understanding the Role of cGMP Signalling in Plant Immune Defence Against Pathogen EntryA synthetic biology magnetic toolkit for detecting bacteria | University of Bristol | Molecular phytopathology, Plant immunity, cGMP signalling, Microbiology, Bacterial plant pathogens | |
| Creating a 4D atlas of body composition and gait with 3D cameras and deep learning to inform next generation cattle health and welfare developments *AP *JD | University of Bristol (Apply here) / University of the West of England; UWE | Food security, Welfare, Deep learning, Sensing, Artificial intelligence | |
| Developmental specificity of subcellular dynamic responses to Colletotrichum higginsianum infection of Arabidopsis thaliana. *AP | University of Bristol (Apply here) / University of Plymouth | Cell biology, Developmental biology, Plant pathology, Organelle | |
| Engineering Optogenetic Systems in Rice Blast Fungus to Elucidate the Role of Timing in Effector Delivery and Pathogenesis. | University of Exeter (Streatham) | Optogenetics, Plant-fungal interactions, Synthetic biology, Bioinformatics, Food security | |
| Enhancing plant-based solar technology for multiple-use energy and food production systems. | University of Bristol | Energy, Resilience, Food security, Synthetic biology | |
| Fish-Parasite ‘Omic Interactions: Deciphering Genomic, Proteomic, and Nutritional Mechanisms Driving Host Resistance *CASE | Cardiff University | Aquaculture, Bioinformatics, Infectious disease, Coinfection, Disease resistance | |
| From cognition to nutrition and health: how do bees differ in their choices for plants? *CASE |
University of Exeter (St Luke’s) | Diet and health, Insect cognition, Navigation, Pollination, Sustainable agriculture | |
| Functional analysis of novel transcriptional regulators in plant stem cell gene regulatory networks | Cardiff University | Plant development, Transcriptional regulation, Stem cells, Molecular genetics, Bioinformatics | |
| Genetic and Epigenetic mechanisms regulating postharvest aroma retention in strawberry *CASE | Cardiff University | Plant genetics, Epigenetics, Plant physiology, Crop genetics, Post harvest biology | |
| Grow fast, die young: coordination of plant stem elongation and leaf senescence *CASE | University of Bristol | Plant environmental signalling, Senescence, Agriculture | |
| How do microplastics affect pesticide risk in honeybees? | University of Exeter (Penryn) | Pesticide resistance, Microbiome, Ecology, Computational biology, Microplastics | |
| Impact of the microbial biodiversity and micro-ecological processes on the transmission and persistency of diseases in farms: a multidisciplinary, adaptive research approach. | University of Bristol | Biodiversity, Infectious diseases, Sustainable agriculture, Environment, Health | |
| Linking plant nutritional ecology with insect chemical ecology to promote regenerative agriculture *AP | Rothamsted Research (Harpenden) / University of the West of England (Apply here) | Pest control, Food security, Nutrition, Ecology, Fertiliser | |
| Making it count, determining the soil processes contributing to agricultural methane fluxes | Rothamsted Research (North Wyke) (Apply to University of Bristol) |
Biogeochemistry, Methane, Organic fertiliser, Greenhouse gas emissions | |
| Microbiome dynamics and pathogen spread in pollinator species networks | University of Exeter (Penryn) | Microbiomes, Species interactions, Metagenomics, Ecological networks, Pollinator health | |
| Minding the gap: Fusarium graminearum navigation through restricted cell-space | Rothamsted Research (Harpenden) (Apply to University of Exeter) | Molecular plant pathology, Biological interactions, Microscopy, Microfluidic chip analyses, Wheat fungal pathogens | |
| Molecular basis for differential susceptibility to stress in freshwater invertebrates *AP | University of Exeter (Streatham) (Apply here) / Swansea University | Biological interactions, Genetics, Epigenetics, Microbiome, Stress | |
| Multi-camera machine vision of a whole cattle herd for assessing the impact of interventions for environmental sustainability *CASE | University of Bristol | Food security, Net-Zero, Environmental sustainability, Deep learning, Artificial intelligence | |
| MycoPlexed: Multiplex mycotoxin biosensors for improved food security and surveillance | University of Bath | Fungal pathogens, Mycotoxins, Food safety, Biosensors, One Health | |
| Play for Life: promoting play in adult farmed animals *CASE | University of Bristol | Sustainable agriculture, Adult farmed animals, Play behaviour, High welfare, Living Lab | |
| Re-engineering of amino acid metabolism and protein synthesis in wheat via CRISPR/Cas9 editing of the metabolic regulator, GCN2 | Rothamsted Research (Harpenden) (Apply to University of Bristol) |
Genome editing, CRISPR/Cas9, Metabolic engineering, Biotechnology, Crop science | |
| Rotating crops, shaping microbiomes: a sustainable path to enhanced wheat production | Rothamsted Research (Harpenden) (Apply to University of Bath) |
Plant microbiome, Sustainable agriculture, Microbial ecology, Bioinformatics, Bio-inoculants | |
| Tackling the Threat of Take-All Disease of Wheat in a Changing Climate *CASE | University of Exeter (Streatham) | Plant pathology, Climate change, Mathematical modelling, Food security, Crop protection | |
| The ABC of liver fluke: developing Augmented BioControl against Fasciola hepatica. | Cardiff University | Augmented biocontrol, Parasitology, Ecological networks, Agent-based modelling, Farming | |
| The Effect of Waterlogging on Disease Resistance in Wheat. *CASE | University of Exeter (Streatham) | Wheat, Waterlogging, Stress, Soil microbiome, Disease risk modelling | |
| The enemy of my enemy… why does Zymoseptoria infect wheat but not wheat’s worst weed blackgrass? | Rothamsted Research (Harpenden) (Apply to University of Exeter) |
Blackgrass, Zymoseptoria tritici, Resistance mechanisms, Non-host interaction, Pathogen infection | |
| The evolution of cell-cell signalling in unicellular eukaryotes *AP | University of Exeter (Streatham) (Apply here) / Marine Biological Association; MBA | Microbiology, Signalling, Algae, Evolution, Marine biology | |
| The Inside Story: Exploring and exploiting the cabbage stem flea beetle endosymbiont microbiome as a potential means of crop protection. | Rothamsted Research (Harpenden) (Apply to University of Exeter) |
Crop protection, Endosymbionts/microbiomes, Cabbage stem flea beetle, Molecular biology, Chemical ecology | |
| The role of cover crops in tackling wireworm damage to potatoes *CASE | Rothamsted Research (Harpenden) (Apply to University of the West of England) |
Wireworm, Integrated pest management, Potato, Soil, Secondary metabolites | |
| The role of endophytic entomopathogenic fungi on pest-host-parasitoid interactions: a chemical ecology perspective | Rothamsted Research (Harpenden) (Apply to University of Bristol) |
Microbiology, Chemical ecology, Entomology, Plant biology, Multi-trophic interactions | |
| The temporal dynamics of higher-order gene regulation in plant immunity | University of Exeter (Streatham) | Plant science, Epigenetics, Molecular genetics, Immunity, Wheat | |
| The visual ecology of the cabbage stem flea beetle pest and its natural enemies for improved biomonitoring and sustainable control *AP *CASE | Rothamsted Research (Harpenden) / Swansea University (Apply here) | Animal vision, Entomology, Behavioural ecology, Integrated pest management genomics | |
| Understanding and improving the hailstorm resistance of crop plants | University of Exeter (Streatham) | Plant science, Biomechanics, Physiology, Climate change, Hail damage | |
| Understanding how beneficial soil bacteria promote plant growth | University of Exeter (Penryn) | Bacteria-plant interactions, Evolution, Genetics, Genomics | |
| Understanding how exceptionally high photosynthetic rates are generated | University of Bristol | Photosynthesis, Plant environment interactions, Molecular genetics | |
| Using pathogen genomes to trace the dissemination of zoonotic disease via food trade networks | University of Bristol | Molecular epidemiology, Microbiology, Network analysis, Genomics, Mathematical modelling | |
| Using single cell approaches to unravel the mechanistic basis of long term epigenetic memory *CASE | University of Exeter (Streatham) | Single cell sequencing, Transcriptomics, Epigenomics, Epigenetic Reprogramming | |
| What Makes Weeds Flower? *CASE | Rothamsted Research (Harpenden) (Apply to University of Bath) |
Herbicide-resistant weeds, Monocots, Reproductive growth, Gene regulation, Sustainable weed management | |
| Will climate change worsen the problem of antibiotic resistance? | University of Exeter (Penryn) | Antibiotic resistance, Climate change, Plasmids, Ecology, Microbiome | |
| Younger, happier and more productive plants: using developmental genetics to improve herb yields and quality | University of Bristol | Plant biology, Plant genetics, Plant development, Molecular biology, agriculture |