Lancaster University is to strengthen its international links with strategic partners in Argentina through a new fellowship programme
The university is to receive support through the new UUKi Rutherford Fund Strategic Partner Grant scheme, which is funded by the UK Department for Business Energy and international Strategy through the £118 million Rutherford Fund, which aims to attract global talent and strengthen the UK’s research base.
Two crops or one? Sometimes, growing two crops simultaneously on the same piece of land – called intercropping – can benefit farmers. But it needs careful planning and resource management.
In some parts of Africa, farmers intercrop sorghum – a grain – and peanuts. But they face a major information gap. There hasn’t been much research on optimal levels of fertilizer use for intercropping sorghum and peanuts in these areas.
A new study has filled this information gap. Researchers from Niger, Mali, and the United States have developed a method to help farmers determine how much fertiliser to apply when intercropping.
Helping North Africa become self-sufficient for protein needs, and reusing by-products of cocoa production in South East Asia are just some of the research projects that have received Government funding to tackle global challenges.
The work to address food sustainability, being investigated across departments including Food and Nutritional Sciences and Agriculture, Policy and Development at the University of Reading, has received almost £1m of grant funding from the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF). The funding is provided by the UK Government and distributed by Research Councils.
An academic from the University of East Anglia (UEA) is part of a consortium that has won a £6.5m grant to look at food security in India.
The funding, announced today by Minister of State for Universities and Science Jo Johnson, has been awarded by Research Councils UK as part of its Global Challenges Research Fund. The £225 million initiative aims to build upon research knowledge in the UK, and strengthen capacity overseas, to help address challenges, informed by expressed need in the developing countries.
According to recent media reports the European Commission seems poised to ban some of Europe’s most widely used pesticides to protect bees and other pollinators, but is the move likely to have an impact on food production and security? Scientists at the James Hutton Institute have demonstrated that many farmers can reduce agrochemical inputs by using alternative pest control methods without reducing yield or quality.
The Waitrose Postgraduate Professional Training Programme ‘Food Challenges for the 21st Century’ is now open for enrolment.