Celine manages and assists research projects in both field and laboratory environment at NIAB at East Malling. She is working to create suitable habitats for beneficial insects and arthropods and looking at how they impact pest control in the crops. These studies also help to outline which flowering resources may be more suitable for each type of crop. Celine has expertise in pest identification, especially key species of thrips that are damaging to soft fruit.
Chandra is based at NIAB East Malling in the Genetics, Genomics and Breeding (GGB) Department.
He received his MPhil and a PhD degree from the University of Delhi and subsequently undertook post-doctoral research at the National Institute of Plant Genome Research in New Delhi India, the University of Milan in Italy, the Agricultural Research Organization (ARO) in Israel and Aberystwyth University before coming to NIAB.
Francesca provides field and laboratory based technical support for research projects and commercial trials, focusing on the control of insect pests in soft fruit, top fruit and hops. She is based with the Pest and Pathogen Ecology team at East Malling in Kent.
Title: SWD Stop Spot - Control of Drosophila suzukii in fruit crops using Sterile Insect Technique (SIT)
Duraction: October 2021 – March 2023
Partners: BigSis, Berry Gardens
Funder: Innovate UK
Adam is a specialist in development of sustainable pest control strategies that minimise environmental impact.
Graham's research is focused on understanding mechanisms that facilitate plant-environment interactions and increase crop resilience to climate change. These topics are approached using a combination of genetic and physiological tools, with a main focus on stomatal traits. Stomata are key gatekeepers for plant-environment interactions because they control gas-exchange at the leaf surface. They strongly contribute to water-use efficiency, photosynthetic processes, temperature regulation, hydraulic integrity, and organismal plasticity.
Aga's role involves day-to-day project management for the Growing Kent & Medway and CTP in Sustainable Agricultural Innovation programmes at NIAB. She provides support to the programme leader and team members; liaising with consortium partners and funders on administrative, financial and contractual issues and organising workshops and events.
Growing Kent & Medway is supported by UKRI’s Strength in Places Fund and is establishing the Kent & Medway region as a world-leader in climate-smart, sustainable horticultural, food and drink production.
Below ground carbon sequestration potential of apple trees
Date: September 2019- September 2023
Partners: University of Reading, NIAB East Malling and CTP FCR
Funders: AHDB, BBSRC, Berry Gardens, M&S, NACM, WorldWide Fruits and The Worshipful Company of Fruiters.
Eithne works in NIAB’s Pest and Pathogen Ecology group at East Malling investigating the diversity of Phytophthora and oomycete pathogens affecting red raspberry through field surveying, traditional isolation methods and high throughput sequencing.
