Doctoral Training Partnerships: a range of postgraduate training is funded by the Research Councils. For information on current funding routes, see the common terminology at https://www.ukri.org/apply-for-funding/how-we-fund-studentships/. Training grants may be to one organisation or to a consortia of research organisations. This portal will show the lead organisation only.

Often academic research is not aligned to effectively address the current challenges and needs of industry. This is particularly an issue with regards to the horticultural sector, where advances in plant sciences are not guaranteed to be transformed into beneficial outcomes for stakeholders (e.g. industry, government, educational institutions, NGOs). Reasons for this range from a shortage of programmes that effectively translate research into applicable knowledge and limited communication and coordination across stakeholders. By sharing knowledge and experience between academics and businesses, we can ensure that research directly addresses these challenges, with effective knowledge transfer stimulating research and being swiftly translated into new practices and technologies. I am proposing a three year project that aims to bridge the gap between academia and industry. The main aims of this project will be to catalyse an interchange of ideas, experience and knowledge that can drive the sector forward to meet its modern day challenges. To achieve this I would work with industry to identify current issues and their research needs, build a network of academics, researchers, technicians and practitioners to discuss issues raised by industry on a annual basis. I would organise workshops that take place annually over the three years in five key areas; arboriculture, floriculture, olericulture, fruticulture and postharvest physiology. The purpose of these workshops would be to disseminate research by academics to businesses and encourage collaboration between the two parties. I would also liaise with the network to encourage on-farm demonstrations by industry for academics to keep them in touch with current agronomic practices and technological developments. Finally, the production of a website and database of online resources would widen access to research and encourage broader engagement with the sector. The result of the three years would hopefully be greater research impact, an increase in industry focussed research by academic institutes, an increase in CASE-funded PhDs, stimulation of talented postgraduates entering the sector and an increase in the dissemination of research findings to allow for quick translation into practices or products by industry. The ultimate goal of this project is through all of the above to result in the generation of recommendations to inform policy makers as to the current status of horticulture, and to the actions needed to meet the future challenges within the sector.

1. To develop a robust innovative interdisciplinary methodology for integrating drought science and scenario-modelling with stakeholder engagement/narrative research. Through a systems-based approach, this method will lead to the production of an online resource of multi-stakeholder drought science-narrative data to input into decision-making in drought risk management. 2. To develop hydrological modelling of drought impacts at nested spatial scales (mesocosms, catchments) so evaluate present/future water resource availability, focussing on past, present and future drought periods across N-S and W-E climatic gradients. This will provide gap quantification between present/future water supply/demand for 7 case study catchments. 3. To develop several new mesocosm experiments in urban and rural environments, interwoven creatively in their delivery to progress expert drought science, and promote citizen science/multi-stakeholder awareness of drought impacts. 4. To develop a sequential participatory methodology that interweaves expert drought science with lay knowledge as a means of responding to gap quantification between present/future water supply/demand for case study catchments. This involves developing multi-stakeholder 'science-engaged' narrative enquiry so that it provides feedback on impact thresholds and adaptation/mitigation options in varied domains that can be input as parameters to 'expert' hydrological modelling. 5. To provide a critical interdisciplinary analysis of multi-stakeholder drought narratives explored within a robust systems framework. This will involve using systems thinking in analysing relationships between different stakeholder perceptions of trigger thresholds/tipping points for drought awareness/action, and physical thresholds for water/temperature stress. 6. To provide a detailed critique of potential synergies between story/telling/narrative enquiry and science communication in promoting the exchange of expert/lay science about drought risk and mitigation, and to capitalise on these insights in the development of the project's interdisciplinary methodology and science communication protocols. An 'open science' protocol will be designed to maximise stakeholder engagement/ capacity building through and beyond the research project's lifespan. 7. To develop an accessible engaging web-based utility for bringing narrative data into drought risk decision making. This will include developing a cutting-edge social media web-platform to share project resources/ensure longer-term sustainability of the narrative resource. 8. To provide an evaluation of water-use conflicts, synergies and trade-offs, drawing on historic drought experiences and integrating both expert/lay knowledge to develop drought indices for use in water resource planning. The project resources will be mined to construct a database of species responses/management options to mitigate drought/post-drought recovery at different scales; and to produce management guidelines/advice on coping with drought/water scarcity at different scales based on narratives from different stakeholder domains. 9. To undertake thorough project scoping for wider sharing: (A) structured international literature reviews on use of narrative in risk settings nationally/internationally; (B) scoping reports providing literature /secondary data on different UK drought risk settings from physical, historical, water-use by stakeholders, socio-economic and cultural character, and narrative perspectives, as a precursor to final selection of case-study catchments; (C) 7 catchment reports from literature review/ stakeholder engagement to determine the characteristics/functioning of each case-study catchment. These will draw together data on water use, water resources planning (demand, licensed abstractions, minimum flow data etc.) for observed and future conditions for each catchment.

The UK consumes 732,000 tonnes of hard cheese annually. The health consequences of this are substantial, as 100g of cheddar contains 50% and 25% of an adult's recommended daily intake of total fat and sodium respectively. High consumption of fat has been associated with increased risk of heart disease, type-2 diabetes, and stroke. A major pitfall of low-fat cheese is its stiff and rubbery texture due to changes developed in the protein structure, as fewer fat droplets are immersed in the protein matrix. Additional drawbacks of low-fat cheese are its poor sensory characteristics (e.g. lack of an umami flavour) and its poorer baking quality. Hence, there is a need to look for ingredients or structures that act as an active filler and are embedded in the cheese protein matrix, to produce high quality low-fat low-salt cheese. Modern diets are leading to insufficient daily intake of products rich in micronutrients, such as vitamins, bioactive compounds and omega 3 fatty acids, the nutritionally conscious consumers are seeking more functional foods in their diet. The development of new functional foods requires technologies for incorporating the health-promoting ingredients, without affecting their functionality and bioavailability. The project aims to reduce levels of fat and salt in cheese by 30% and 10% respectively and potentially fortify the low fat and low salt cheese with various micronutrients to benefit consumers. The project will analyse the microstructure, physical properties, encapsulation efficiency of the micronutrients, sensory evaluation and functionality of the cheese produced.

Plant disease resistance genes can protect crops against pathogens that have the corresponding avirulence (avr) genes. In many cases, the protection conferred by single, generally dominant, disease resistance (R) genes is short lived as the pathogen strains can evolve through mutation and selection, favouring strains with altered or missing avr genes that are therefore able to cause disease. Broad spectrum disease resistance that is quantitative, involving several genes, is generally expected to be more durable. However, this kind of resistance is more difficult to exploit in breeding programmes. The basis of this plant defence strategy is currently unknown. We have chosen quantitative resistance to Xanthomonas campestris pv campestris (Xcc) in Brassica rapa as a model for investigation. Xcc causes black rot of crucifers. This seed-borne disease is one of the most important diseases of Brassicas worldwide. In previous Brassica research at WHRI we have identified good sources of resistance and mapped the location of the major genetic components. In this project we will exploit the exciting new developments in Brassica rapa genomics and emerging information on the close relatedness of the Brassica and Arabidopsis genomes to characterise the resistance and identify the genes involved. The combination of the above resources in the proposed project will allow us to deliver novel and exciting information on the fundamental basis of quantitative disease resistance in a crop species. Key practical outcomes of this work will be resistant plant material with tightly linked molecular markers and information on the extent of natural variation for resistance in Brassica genomes that could be exploited in plant breeding to provide durable resistance to a very significant pathogen.