Plant Health Undergraduate Studentships 2024
Funding to host RSB undergraduate studentships in Plant Health
The application window for supervisors looking to host a project has now closed.
Successful projects will be widely advertised to students by the RSB from the end of March 2024.
Undergraduate students will be invited to submit applications for selection by the supervisor of each project. If desired by the supervisor, RSB can provide input into the process of selecting an undergraduate student.
Funding for the 2024 programme is provided by Defra (6 studentships); BSPP (2 studentships), Association of Applied Biologists (2 studentships), SCI Horticulture Group (1 studentship) and the Colegrave Seabrook Foundation (in partnership with the the Crispa (Richard Cahn) Charitable Trust) (1 studentship).
Research projects must address at least one of the following themes related to plant health, pests and diseases:
- Risk assessment and horizon scanning
- Inspections, diagnostics and surveillance
- Management of pests and diseases
- Resilience and Adaptation
- Plant Health Behaviours
- Evaluation frameworks
Award
The awards provide support for the student at a rate of £380 per week for a studentship period of 8-10 weeks. The bursaries produce no National Insurance contribution liability. Each award includes £500 for costs to run the research; further research expenses are not offered under this scheme.
Students will be invited to participate in an online mini-symposium to present their project to other students in the programme. On completion of their project, students will be required to produce a poster about their research project. These may be included in relevant RSB and Member Organisation publications.
Aims of the studentship
- Address skills and capacity challenges in plant health science by providing attractive opportunities for research experience to suitable undergraduates, offering them the opportunity to undertake supervised research with leading research groups.
- Facilitate training of undergraduates in research practice.
- Encourage research proposals and generate research outcomes in areas relevant to Defra’s plant health priorities.
- Build networks of research groups, emerging scientists and employers with a focus on plant health.
Contact
Please direct queries to plantsci@rsb.org.uk
-----Projects which took place in 2023-----
Investigating wireworm species (Harper Adams University)
Identification of agriculturally important wireworm species through DNA barcoding: determining species dominance and morphometric comparisons
Project Location: This project will be managed in-person at Harper Adams University.
Supervisor: Dr Ben Clunie
Insect competition and its effect on oilseed rape (Rothamsted Research, Harpenden)
The more the merrier? Understanding the consequences of cabbage stem flea beetle larval intraspecific competition on larval development and parasitism rate.
Project Location: This project will be managed in-person at Rothamsted Research, Harpenden
Supervisor: Dr Samantha Cook
Using biostimulants to improve plant health (University of Stirling)
Improving plant resilience to enhance biocontrol efficacy
Project Location: This project will be managed in-person at University of Stirling
Supervisor: Dr Matthew Tinsley
Investigating disease in Roses (RHS Garden Wisley, Surrey)
Reduction of Rose black spot disease using silicon products
Project Location: This project will be managed in-person, at RHS Garden Wisley, Surrey
Supervisor: Dr Liz Beal
Changing insect behaviours through trap-cropping (Harper Adams University)
Trap cropping to sustainably management aphid vectors of barley yellow dwarf virus
Project Location: This project will be managed in-person at Harper Adams University.
Supervisor: Dr Tom Pope
Investigating disease resistance in wheat (NIAB, Cambridge)
Characterisation of resistance to Septoria tritici blotch in synthetic wheat
Project Location: This project will be managed in-person, at the National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB), Cambridge
Supervisor: Dr Kostya Kanyuka
Investigating wheat genes for disease resistance (Rothamsted Research, Harpenden)
Exploring resistance to take-all root disease in wheat by high throughput genotyping and functional characterisation of wheat defence genes
Project Location: This project will be managed in-person at Rothamsted Research, Harpenden.
Supervisor: Dr Nida Ghori
Investigating how fungi improve plant health (University of Lincoln)
Understanding entomopathogenic and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal interactions within the rhizosphere
Project Location: This project will be managed in-person at the University of Lincoln
Supervisor: Dr Sandra Varga
Investigating a novel tree virus (Fera Science, York)
A novel nepovirus infecting Tilia spp. – filling the gaps of the biological desert.
Project Location: This project will be managed in-person at Fera Science, York
Supervisor: Dr Ines Vazquez-Iglesias.
Investigating how climate change affects wheat diseases (John Innes Centre, Norwich)
Investigating the future threat of wheat stem rust in the UK in a changing climate
Project Location: This project will be managed in-person at The John Innes Centre, Norwich
Supervisor: Professor Diane Saunders
Detecting stress in raspberry plants (James Hutton Institute)
Validating hyperspectral imaging as a novel high throughput technique for early detection of pests and diseases in fruit plantations
Project Location: This project will be managed in-person at the James Hutton Institute, Dundee
Supervisor: Dr Dominic Williams
Investigating pathogenic fungi on Scots Pine (Forest Research, Roslin)
Biology and impact of the fungus Curreya pithyophila in association with the adelgid Pineus pini on Scots pine in Scotland
Project Location: This project will be managed in-person at Forest Research, Roslin, Midlothian
Supervisor: Dr Sarah Green
Plant Health Undergraduate Studentships aim to:
- Address skills and capacity challenges in plant health science by providing attractive opportunities for research experience to suitable undergraduates, offering them the opportunity to undertake supervised research with leading research groups.
- Facilitate training of undergraduates in research practice.
- Encourage research proposals and generate research outcomes in areas relevant to Defra’s plant health priorities.
- Build networks of research groups, emerging scientists and employers with a focus on plant health.
Plant Health Undergraduate Studentships projects address at least one of the following priorities identified by Defra, related to plant health:
- Risk assessment and horizon scanning
- Inspections, diagnostics and surveillance
- Management of pests and diseases
- Resilience and Adaptation
- Plant Health Behaviours
- Evaluation frameworks