NIAB - National Institute of Agricultural Botany
Plant Science Into Practice
ATP-Pasture
Advanced Training Partnership for sustainable and efficient food production in pasture-based agriculture
Click here for our training course calendar
About the Advanced Training Partnerships
The aim of the BBSRC Advanced Training Partnerships is to strengthen specialist scientific skills in strategically important areas for the agri-food industry in the UK, through flexible, postgraduate training.
Four partnerships have been funded, with a total investment of £12 million. The partnerships are complementary and cover the full range of food production from farm to fork.
About us
Industry-led focus: This innovative Advanced Training Partnership (ATP) is a vehicle for research-led training focused on responding to the needs of industry. Our goal is to increase the sustainability and efficiency of Pasture-Based Agriculture in the UK. This ATP will provide an accessible training base to allow relevant businesses to meet the very real challenges of:
- Living with the effects of climate change
- Food security and securing the supply chain
- Societal demands and meeting consumer expectations
Partnership: Our ATP comprises of Delivery Partners [Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences, Aberystwyth University (IBERS), College of Natural Sciences, Bangor University (BU) and the National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB)]; and Management Partners [Lantra, Waitrose, The Bioscience Knowledge Transfer Network, Castell Howell Foods Ltd, BioTal Ltd, XL Vets and British Seed Houses].
Training and Courses
The ATP will provide postgraduate level training accredited by Aberystwyth or Bangor University.
Delivery will be via a form of “blended-learning” comprising workshops and e-learning units. The workshops will be accessible as stand-alone items OR building blocks towards a larger qualification. They will act as module entry points and focus on practical aspects of the learning pathway. They will be developed and delivered by teams of partnership or sub-contracted staff selected to provide an appropriate combination of high-level research experience and industrial credibility in the given field.
Credits can be built towards a postgraduate certificate (60 credits), postgraduate diploma (120 credits); or a full MSc (120 credits plus a 60 credit dissertation). The dissertation (may be carried out at the students place of work under academic supervision by the delivery partners; or on secondment. To maximise flexibility and potential for academic gain, both universities will extend the timeframe for MSc completion to five years.
Training areas identified by industry:
Sustainable beef, sheep and dairy
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Forage and feed
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Optimising land-use management
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Complementary and wider issues
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Workshops and distance - learning modules include:
- Ruminant nutrition
- Improving animal production
- Upland farming systems
- Soil management
- Improved forages and feeds
- Improved silage
- Carbon footprinting and lifecycle assessment
- Changing patterns of food production and consumption
Contact us:
Martine Spittle, Advanced Training Partnership Co-ordinator
- Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Edward Llwyd Building, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, SY23 3DA
- T: 01970 621562
- E: rjs@aber.ac.uk
Professor Jamie Newbold
- Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Edward Llwyd Building, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, SY23 3DA
- T: 01970 622242
- E: cjn@aber.ac.uk