About the Project
Supervisors: Dr Martin McAinsh (Lancaster Environment Centre) and Prof. Frank Martin (Lancaster Environment Centre)
Agricultural productivity will need to increase up to 70% by 2050 in order to meet the continuing population and consumption growth predicted over the next 40 years. Currently, an average of 35% of potential crop yield is lost to pre-harvest pests globally, with an estimated value of approx. $2000 billion per year. Consequently, the reduction of yield losses caused by pests, pathogens and weeds are a major challenge to our ability to achieve the required increase in agricultural production in this timescale. Helping farmers to reduce crop losses due to pests, for example through early and targeted intervention with crop protection products, is therefore critical to global food security for the 21st century.
This is a collaborative project between scientists at the Lancaster Environment Centre (Lancaster University) and Barfoots of Botley Ltd., one of the leading growers, producers and processers of premium vegetable products in the UK, and Renishaw plc. (manufacturer of advanced biospectroscopy instrumentation). The project will adopt a multidisciplinary approach using advanced biospectroscopy sensor-based technologies previously used extensively in biomedical research applications, Attenuated Total Reflectance (ATR) and Raman spectroscopy, for the pre-symptomatic diagnosis of pest/pathogen attack in crops allowing early crop interventions thereby reducing crop losses, reducing the use of crop protection products, and reducing the incidence of chemical residues in food. Laboratory-based studies of crops grown under controlled environment conditions will identify ’biomarkers’ that are indicative of early pre-symptomatic pest/disease attack. These studies will be used to benchmark field-based measurements made during field campaigns at UK farms using affordable portable spectroscopy equipment. The ability of these technologies to predict the impact of reduced application of crop protection products on pre- and post-harvest quality of crops, and on storage and shelf-life, will also be investigated. Field-based measurements will be used to assess the potential for biospectroscopy, and the novel biomarkers identified using this approach, for informing future strategies for protecting and increasing agricultural productivity through the targeted precision scheduling of crop protection products.
Academic requirements: First-class or 2.1 (Hons) degree or Masters degree (or equivalent) in an appropriate subject.
Deadline for applications: Friday 6th March
Interview date: Week commencing 23rd March
Start date: October 2015
For further information or informal discussion about the position, please contact Dr Martin McAinsh, [Email Address Removed]. Please also read http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/sci-tech/downloads/phd_204.pdf
Application process: Please upload a CV and a covering letter outlining your background and suitability for this project at LEC Postgraduate Research Applications, http://www.lec.lancs.ac.uk/postgraduate/pgresearch/apply-online.
You also require 2 references, please send the reference form (download from http://www.lec.lancs.ac.uk/docs/PG_Reference_Form.docx) to your 2 referees and ask them to email it to Andy Harrod ([Email Address Removed]), Postgraduate Research (PGR) Co-ordinator, Lancaster Environment Centre by the deadline.
Due to the limited time between the closing date and the interview date, it is essential that you ensure references are submitted by the closing date or as soon as possible.
Funding Notes
The HDC studentship will provide an annual stipend (£13,863 2014/15 [tax free]) and UK/EU tuition fees for 3 years for UK/EU students. A Research Training Support Grant (RTSG) is also provided. Unfortunately studentships are not available to non-UK/EU applicants.