East Malling

William's role includes setting up experimental areas, both at NIAB EMR and on commercial grower trials, and installing sensor/loggers for precision growing.

David is a second year PhD student, under the SoCoBio DTP programme, whose current research focuses on understanding and improving the nutritional quality of fruit and vegetable, within the wider context of improving food system sustainability and micronutrient security.

He is particularly interested in the application of stress conditioning as a means of increasing nutrient accumulation in strawberry, as well as subsequent associations between nutritional quality and crop tolerance of pre- and post-harvest stresses.

Katie has worked at East Malling as a strawberry breeder since 2016, including developing new varieties under the East Malling Strawberry Breeding Club (EMSBC) initiative and for Malling Fruits.  The focus of the programme is genetic improvement and varietal development of the cultivated strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa). 

Sharon provides technical support to the strawberry breeding team with field, glasshouse and laboratory based work

Camila has a BSc in Biology and a MSc in Plant Breeding. Her research interest include molecular genetics and genome editing for precision crop breeding and she is currently carrying out a full-time BBSRC PhD studentship in Crop Sciences at the University of Reading, based at NIAB EMR.

Research project

Camila's PhD project is focused on understanding the genetic control of the everbearing trait in the cultivated strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa) by using gene editing, and to further develop reliable markers for the selection of optimised everbearing habit.

Scott’s role is to raise the profile of the research and commercial activities at East Malling and to improve collaboration between the researchers and the fruit and wider horticulture industry. This includes the activities of the Growing Kent & Medway programme.

Ece works in NIAB's Crop Science and Production Systems department in East Malling, specialising in plant physiology.

Research projects

Title: Improving cane crop resilience by overcoming the legacy effects on photosynthesis from short-term stresses
Partners: NIAB , University of Essex, AHDB & Berry Gardens
Funders:  BBSRC, CTP-FCR

Lauren is responsible for leading all the communication activity for Growing Kent & Medway. This involves securing press coverage, developing and delivering events, generating website content and managing the social media channels.

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.

As GKM's Innovation Growth Manager, Robert works closely with stakeholders across the Growing Kent & Medway programme to engage businesses in the region with the facilities, resources and expertise available within the cluster.
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.