Natural Resources Institute

Staff

Name Details
Professor Susan E Seal
  • Qualifications: BSc, PhD
  • Biography:

    After obtaining a BSc Honours Microbiology degree in 1984 from Imperial College (London, UK), Professor Susan Seal gained a preliminary training in molecular biology at Genentech Inc. (San Francisco, USA) carrying out research on an auto-immune disease. Further research experience in molecular biology was acquired through PhD studies at the University of Bath on identifying pathogenicity genes in the plant pathogen Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria. During this time she decided on a career in research to benefit agriculture in developing countries and obtained scholarship funding to do fieldwork in Indonesia.  Thereafter she worked as a postdoctoral scientist at The Sainsbury Laboratory, John Innes Centre developing DNA-based diagnostic tests for Ralstonia solanacearum, one of the most important tropical plant pathogens. Several tests were developed and Sue was employed by NRI in 1992 to transfer these tests to a range of overseas countries and develop new molecular diagnostic projects.

    Since joining NRI, Sue has overseen the molecular diagnostic laboratories at NRI, as well as establishing molecular-diagnostics laboratories in developing countries, and teaching MSc courses ('Molecular diagnostics', 'Plant pathology', 'Organisms and Systematics' and 'GM Crops'). In 2009, she became Leader of the Molecular Virology and Entomology Research Group at NRI, which focuses on applied as well as strategic research for controlling pests and diseases of tropical food crops especially those caused by viruses and insect vectors on cassava, sweet potato, yams and vegetables. These root and tuber crops play key roles in food security, poverty reduction, and income generation in Sub-Saharan Africa.

    Sue has led ~60 research projects at NRI, the larger of which are outlined below in chronological order with their funding source given in brackets.

    • Set up of molecular diagnostic laboratories in Asia and Africa (ODA)
    • Cyprus national quarantine diagnostic services consultancy (EC, Govt. Cyprus)
    • Yam potyvirus research (Worldbank, Gatsby Charitable Foundation, ODA)
    • Identification of a banana bacterial wilt pathogenicity locus (ODA)
    • Development of diagnostics for bacterial pathogens of vegetables (ODA)
    • Molecular characterisation of aflatoxin producing fungi (ODA)
    • Diagnostic tools for corn stunt complex (funding ODA)
    • Diagnostics for a fungal pathogen (Mycospharella fijiensis) of banana (ODA)
    • Diagnostics for Cassava brown streak virus, and sweet potato virus disease (FCDO)
    • Detection and characterisation of yam viruses (EC, CIRAD, Kebbi State, Nigeria)
    • Genetic linkage map and molecular markers in groundnut (FCDO)
    • Review of suitability of transgenic crops for developing countries (FCDO)
    • Development of diagnostic tools for fish trematodes (INCO-DEV, EC)
    • Identification of existing biosafety capacities and initiatives available in the CORAF sub-region and needs for research and training (FARA)
    • 'Green, white, blue and red' biotechnologies in developing countries (EC)
    • Molecular typing of begomoviruses (FCDO)
    • Transcriptomics/genomics of whiteflies (UoG and BMGF)
    • Development of On-Farm Robust Diagnostic Toolkits for Yam Viruses (BMGF)
    • Enabling research tools for cassava virologists and breeders (BMGF)

    Research on the above projects has led to the publication of >100 refereed journal papers, reviews and book chapters, as well as several 'Briefing Papers'. The projects above have also incorporated supervising the research of a range of MSc and PhD (>25) students.
  • Selected Publications:
  • Research / Scholarly Interests:

    Current research interests focus on using molecular biology tools to generate an improved understanding of the factors contributing to the spread of cassava and yam disease epidemics in Africa and developing novel technologies for their control. The research ranges from using the latest next generation sequencing technologies to determine genome and transcriptome data for the vectors (members of the Bemisia tabaci species complex) of the cassava viruses, to developing robust, low-cost diagnostic technologies for such plant viruses and specific populations of their vectors which appear to be driving the spread of epidemics.  The aim is to deliver research outputs that reduce the impact of root and tuber crop virus diseases in sub-Saharan Africa, and hence improve food security for smallholder farmers for whom cassava and yam are their major staple crop.
  • Research Projects:

    Project Leader for project entitled 'Enabling research tools for cassava virologists and breeders' (2013-2017, £0.5 million funded by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation )

    Cassava is an essential food security crop, but its production is greatly limited by cassava virus diseases driven by super-abundant populations of the whitefly vector, B. tabaci, which appear to be an invasive form. In order to develop novel whitefly-management technologies and to ensure their successful adoption by resource-poor farmers, an improved understanding of the mechanisms generating the super-abundance cassava whitefly populations is required. A key step in this process is the development of accurate, robust and easy-to-use diagnostic tools that differentiate the different African cassava whitefly species. At present, population identification is based on the partial sequence of the mitochondrial cytochrome-oxidase 1 gene (mtCO1). This diagnostic has several drawbacks, the most serious being that it is a mitochondrial marker and hence is inherited maternally. The proposed project will address the need for improved whitefly diagnostics by studying biological properties and nuclear gene sequences for the different cassava 'mt-CO1' populations, focusing on identifying diagnostic targets (i.e. gene sequence differences) present in the super-abundant whitefly populations infesting cassava in sub-Saharan Africa. The knowledge and new diagnostic tools will improve our understanding of the mechanisms driving plant-virus epidemics and for identifying key intervention points. As such they have the potential to create significant impact both in the scientific community and through improved African cassava whitefly, and hence virus disease control.

    This project will also assess the suitability of a novel method to develop infectious clones (ICs) of cassava brown streak viruses (CBSV, UCBSV) and NRI is coordinating an international team to share resources and draw up standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the use of ICs in SSA. This will link directly with the 'Disease diagnostics for sustainable cassava productivity in Africa' proposal at the Mikocheni Agricultural Research Institute (MARI) Tanzania, which aims to minimize both the occurrence as well as impact of cassava virus diseases and their associated insect (whitefly) vectors.

    Project Leader for project entitled 'Development of On-farm Robust Diagnostic Toolkits for Yam Virus Diseases' (2012-2016, ~US$1.5 million funded by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation)

    Yams are propagated vegetatively through their tubers, which leads to an accumulation of tuber-borne diseases in farmers' planting material and subsequent serious crop yield losses. The economically-important tuber-borne diseases are caused by viruses, and the only effective method of controlling these virus diseases is to use virus-free planting material. The scarcity and associated high expense of such material has been identified as one of the most important critical constraints to increasing yam production and productivity in W.Africa. A separate Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funded project 'Yam Improvement for Incomes and Food Security in W.Africa (YIIFSWA)' (of which NRI/Professor Seal is also a partner) will address this by supporting the supply of high quality breeder and foundation seeds, and promoting a seed yam certification system to support the production and sustainable supply of high quality seed yams through farmer seed growers and commercial seed entrepreneurs. There is a resulting urgent need to develop on-farm diagnostic kits for yam viral diseases to enable this certification in the field.

    The 26 virus species that have been reported to infect yams worldwide fall into nine taxonomic genera, but only three of these genera (badnaviruses, potyviruses and cucumoviruses) have been shown to cause important diseases and be widespread in recent surveys (2004-2009) across 100 yam growing locations in W.Africa. In addition to the normal virus infection process, some of the 12 yam badnavirus species appear to be integrated into the host genome of some of the widely cultivated Dioscorea species. Integrated badnavirus sequences are termed 'endogenous pararetroviruses' (EPRVs). Of particular concern is that EPRVs can be 'activatable', i.e. able to replicate and initiate virus infections de novo from their sequences integrated in the host genome. This poses serious problems for virus-indexing facilities as material free from virus particles and symptoms can, when stressed, become infected. Therefore it is essential to improve existing diagnostic tools for broad-specific detection of viruses and EPRVs, particularly in germplasm selected for wide dissemination in YIIFSWA. The yam lines containing 'activatable' EPRVs will need to be removed from the multiplication process as they cannot be 'cleaned' of badnaviruses and will pose a serious long term threat to the genuinely virus-free yam lines.
  • Greenwich Academic Literature Archive (GALA) link: http://gala.gre.ac.uk/view/authors/84.html
  • Responsibilities:

    Leader of the Molecular Virology and Entomology Research Group (NRI) Vice Chair Faculty of Engineering and Science Research Degrees Committee Representative on Faculty Research and Enterprise Committee ‘Impact Director’ and Board Member for CONNECTED (GCRF-network for African Vector-Borne Plant Viruses, led by University of Bristol)
  • Awards:
    • Developing Country and Societal Impact Award, received from Lord David Sainsbury at the 25 year anniversary of The Sainsbury Laboratory (2013),
    • Invited to award ceremony for major contribution to the winning of the Queen's Anniversary Prize for ground-breaking work on cassava (2016).
    • Editorial Board Member of Frontiers in Phylogenetics, Phylogenomics, and Systematics, and Pathogens (Plant Pathogens subsection, MDPI)
    • Membership of the Royal College of Science, Imperial College, London UK; CONNECTED (GCRF-network for African Vector-Borne Plant Viruses), Biochemical Society, International Society for Tropical Root Crops
  • External Profiles:

    ORCID

    https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3952-1562
Phone: +44 (0)1634 88 3602
Principal Scientist; Professor of Molecular Biology; Molecular Plant Pathologist
Raymond Hilder Project Administrator
Dr Rekha Swamy Phone: +44 (0)1634 88 3793
ACWP Biotechnology Scientist
Dr Stefania Cerretelli
  • Qualifications: BSc, MSc, PhD, FHEA
  • Biography:

    Dr Stefania Cerretelli obtained the Bachelor Degree in Natural Science, and the Master Degree in Environmental Biology at the University of Trieste (Italy) in the 2010 and 2013, respectively. During her Master’s and Bachelor’s Degrees she developed experience in planning and conducting environmental surveys (such as vegetation surveys as well as mammals monitoring).

    She obtained a PhD in Ecology at the University of Udine (Italy) and The Hames Hutton Institute (UK) with the title “The role of ecosystem services in the spatial assessment of land degradation: a transdisciplinary study in the Ethiopian Great Rift Valley”. Her PhD was part of the ALTER (Alternative Carbon Investments in Ecosystems for Poverty Alleviation) project, a three years international and interdisciplinary project funded by ESPA (Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation) with partners from UK, Ethiopia, and Uganda.

    For her PhD, she mapped the landscape capacity to supply ecosystem services (carbon storage, soil retention, and nutrient retention) integrating data from global datasets, as well as soil properties data from a local survey, and a supervised land use classification. Moreover, she developed and implemented a participatory approach (through single interviews, focus group discussions, and participatory mapping) that involved local stakeholders. The spatial data and the local participatory knowledge and information were finally integrated in a spatialised Bayesian Belief Network model to map land degradation risk in several land use scenarios.

    She joined the Natural Resources Institute in July 2019 as a research fellow for the project “Sustainability-Intensification Trade-offs in Coffee Agroforestry in Central America”, to work on ecosystem services modelling through GIS techniques. She also worked and still work identifying relationship and trade-offs between productivity and biophysical aspects (e.g. soil characteristics, shade management, biodiversity). She became Senior Lecturer in April 2023 and she is involved in teaching, tutoring and supervising activities for the BSc on Environmental Science and the MSc programmes Global Environmental Change and Agriculture for Sustainable Development.

    Since the end of 2023 she is involved in the project “Evaluating the interrelated impacts of commodity agriculture, market access and forest conservation on food security in tropical landscape” where conservation efforts, markets access and commodity agriculture are analysed to infer how they affect rural livelihoods and poverty.

    Throughout her career, Dr Stefania Cerretelli gained good knowledge of and experience on Remote Sensing techniques and GIS-based systems (e.g. GRASS, QGIS, and ArcGIS), programming and statistical analysis skills including BBN statistics (mainly using R-Cran Software), good skills in managing large sets of data.

    During her academic career she worked with important academics in her own field: Jeremy Haggar, Truly Santika, Alessandro Gimona, Laura Poggio, Helaina Black, Rolando Cerda
  • Selected Publications:
  • Research / Scholarly Interests:

    Her main research interest is in identifying trade-offs between different ecological as well as socio-economic aspects within different agro-ecosystems. Methods that help achieving sustainability without compromising communities’ resilience and adaptation to environmental changes are her main research focus.  

    She is interested in the integration of remote sensing data and field data to model important environmental factors and ecosystem services (soil retention, carbon storage, water yield); these models are an important means to inform decision-making processes that could help supporting the adoption of better management to foster a sustainable development without depleting ecosystem services. Another interest of Dr Stefania Cerretelli is to integrate biophysical data and stakeholders’ knowledge to gain a better perspective of the study area. This is important to assess different trade-offs between sustainability, agriculture productions, livelihood diversification, as well as other factors such as poverty eradication and well-being.
  • Teaching Programmes:

    She is involved in teaching mainly at BSc level, leading two modules under the BSc Environmental Science programme: Environmental Management and Environmental Impact Assessment. She is deputy programme leader of MSc Global Environmental Change and she supervises students under this programme and MSc Agriculture for Sustainable development for their final independent project.
  • Research Projects:

    Dr Stefania Cerretelli has been associated to the following Funded Research Projects.

     

    ALTER project - Alternative Carbon Investments in Ecosystems for Poverty Alleviation (2013-2017).

    ALTER aimed to demonstrate the benefits for wide scale poverty alleviation by tackling soil degradation, from field to landscape, by carrying out studies in Ethiopia and Uganda, bringing together natural scientists, social scientists - along with local communities and decision makers - to improve our understanding of how human-environment linked systems respond to incentives and other change.

    The project was an international consortium between The James Hutton Institute (UK), University of Aberdeen (UK), Hawassa University (Ethiopia), The Ethiopian Government's Southern Agricultural Research Institute (SARI, Ethiopia), Carbon Foundation for East Africa (CAFEA, Uganda) and the International Water Management Institute (Nile Basin & Eastern Africa Office, Ethiopia).

    For the above-mentioned project, Stefania mapped the distribution of ecosystem services and the integration of social and economic aspects with the environmental factors in affecting the land degradation.


    SEACAF - Sustainability-Intensification Trade-offs in Coffee Agroforestry in Central America (2019-2022)

    “Sustainability-Intensification Trade-offs in Coffee Agroforestry in Central America” was a BBSRC/GCRF funded project with partners from Costa Rica (CATIE - The Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Centre) and Guatemala (Universidad del Valle de Guatemala).
    Coffee agri-systems vary from intensive monoculture plantations to forest-like coffee agroforests and therefore provide a model system to evaluate the trade-offs and potential synergies between intensification and sustainability. Coffee agri-systems of Costa Rica where production has been more intensive even within agroforestry systems, and Guatemala where traditional coffee agroforestry systems predominate are compared. Provisioning, supporting and indicators of regulating ecosystem services are evaluated on around 80-90 coffee farms in each country representing different typologies of coffee production with a range of intensity of production (levels of fertilizer use) and sustainability (levels of shade trees). The results of this project will inform the best strategies and support for farmers to enable sustainable productive livelihoods while meeting the product demands of markets and environmental demands of society.

     

    FAM-ESCR - Evaluating the interrelated impacts of commodity agriculture, market access and forest conservation on food security in tropical landscape (2023-2025)

    The FAM-ESRC is an UKRI funded project with partners from Indonesia (Hasanuddin University, University of Papua, and  National Research and Innovation Agency). This project aims to analyse the interrelated impacts of various forest conservation schemes and agricultural production models on food security and how this interacts with access to markets. The main objective of the project is to evaluate how forest conservation programmes (protected area and community-based land management), market accessibility, and commodity agriculture development (industrial-scale monocultures and polyculture and agroforestry smallholdings) collectively affect and impact rural livelihoods and food security.

    Multiple secondary datasets from government censuses and remote sensing from four major islands of Indonesia (Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Papua) will be used. This research will be able to compare food security in different stages of economic development in different islands. The project will primarily involve desk analysis of secondary datasets; we will also conduct two workshops in Indonesia to obtain feedback from stakeholders on the results and interpretations of the analysis.

     

    Nature based solutions for climate resilience of local and indigenous communities in Guatemala (2024-2027)

    This project is funded by DEFRA UK for 3 years. It has local Guatemalan partners (specifically Universidad del Valle and FEDECOVERA, as well as CATIE in Costa Rica), and will assess nature-based solutions in two different areas in Guatemala (Alta Verapaz and Chiquimula).

    Scientific and traditional local and Indigenous knowledge systems will be integrated in the design and assessment of nature-based solutions (NbS) to enhance their impact on the climate resilience and just wellbeing of rural communities in two regions of Guatemala. Local and national decision-makers will use guidelines and tools that integrate local and Indigenous Peoples’ values, knowledge and culture in the co-design of NbS for landscape climate resilience. Individual people, households and communities will be empowered to be at the centre of NbS planning and implementation through an enhanced awareness of the current and potential role of ecosystems in their lives and of the factors required for NbS to result in just and successful outcomes. The tools and evidence from application of this approach will be made available to inform landscape resilience planning across Central America.
  • Greenwich Academic Literature Archive (GALA) link: https://gala.gre.ac.uk/view/authors/7393.html
  • Responsibilities:

    NRI Representative at the ECR network for the Faculty of Engineering and Science
  • External Profiles:

    ORCID

    https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3652-7253

    LinkedIn

    https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefania-cerretelli-91907282/

    Google Scholar

    https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Hj1LhFgAAAAJ&hl=it

    Research Gate

    https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Stefania_Cerretelli
Phone: +44 (0)1634 88 3015
Senior Lecturer in Environmental Science
Stephanie Dyke Phone: +44 (0)1634 88 3564
Doctoral Training Manager
Dr Steven Harte
  • Qualifications: BSc, PhD, MRSC, MSCI, MRES, FHEA
  • Biography:

    Steven joined the Chemical Ecology research group as a research fellow within the Natural Resources Institute in 2017. Since then, he has worked on numerous interdisciplinary projects investigating semiochemicals for use in integrated pest management and improving pollination services. Recently Steven has also moved into biopesticide research, such as entomopathogenic fungi, using his natural product expertise to identify and isolate bioactive metabolites. All areas of his research are focused on attempting to reduce reliance on traditional agrochemical interventions and thus make agriculture more sustainable.

    This interest was informed by his experience working  as a Natural Product Chemist for 5 years at the small biotech firm Hypha Discovery (https://www.hyphadiscovery.com/), where he was responsible for isolating novel bioactive metabolites from bacterial and fungal strains as part of a drug discovery methodology. 

    Over the years Steven has worked closely with the Royal Society of Chemistry and currently sits on both the Kent local section and the agriculture special interest group committees, organising events and STEM outreach activities.

    Steven started his career when he received his BSc in Chemistry with mathematics from Keele University in 2007. He followed this by working as an analytical chemist at both Clariant and Sanofi Aventis and was responsible for the quality control analysis for fine pharmaceuticals produced on site.

    Steven subsequently started working on utilising small molecule inhibitors of Spliceosomal protein Snu114 at the University of Manchester, under Dr David Berrisford, for which he was received a PhD in biochemistry. 
  • Selected Publications:

    • James, K., Springate, S., Harte, S.J., Farman, D., Colgan, R. and Arnold, S.E. (2024) Buzzing benefits: how multi-species pollination boosts strawberry yield, quality, and nutritional value. Journal of Pollination Ecology, 37(20), pp.326-340. https://doi.org/10.26786/1920-7603(2024)788

    • Harte, S.J., Bray, D., Nash-Woolley, V., Stevenson, P., and Fernández-Grandon, M.G. (2024) Antagonistic and additive effect when combining biopesticides against the fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda. Scientific Reports. 14(1), pp. 6029 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-56599-w

    • Hardy, H., Harte, S.J., Hopkins, R., Mnyone, L. and Hawkes, F. (2023) The influence of manure-based organic fertilisers on the oviposition behaviour of Anopheles arabiensis. Acta Tropica, 244:106954, pp. 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actatropica.2023.106954

    • Sanchez-Gomez, T., Harte, S.J., Zamora, P., Matéo, B., Julio, J.D., Baudilio, H., Niño-Sánchez, J. and Martín-García, J. (2023) Nematicidal effect of Beauveria species and the mycotoxin beauvericin against pinewood nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, 6:1229456, pp. 67-77. https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2023.1229456

    • Tungadi, T.D., Shaw, B., Powell, G., Hall, D.R., Bray, D.P., Harte, S.J., Farman, D.I., Wijnen, H. and Fountain, M.T., (2022). Live drosophila melanogaster larvae deter oviposition by drosophila suzukii. Insects, 13(8), pp. 688. https://doi.org/10.3390/insects13080688

    • Bray, D.P., Hall, D.R., Harte, S.J., Farman, D.I., Vankosky M.A. and Mori B.A., (2022). Components of the Female Sex Pheromone of the Newly-Described Canola Flower Midge, Contarinia brassicola. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 48, pp. 479–490. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-022-01369-z 

    • Hall, D.R., Harte, S.J., Bray, D.P., Farman, D.I., James, R., Silva, C.X. and Fountain, M.T., (2021). Hero Turned Villain: Identification of Components of the Sex Pheromone of the Tomato Bug, Nesidiocoris tenuis. Journal of Chemical Ecology, pp. 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-021-01270-1

    • Hall, D.R., Harte, S.J., Farman, D.I., Ero, M. and Pokana, A., (2021). Identification of Components of the Aggregation Pheromone of the Guam Strain of Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle, Oryctes rhinoceros, and Determination of Stereochemistry. Journal of chemical ecology, 48, pp. 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-021-01329-z

    • Fernández-Grandon, G.M., Harte, S.J., Ewany, J., Bray, D. and Stevenson, P.C., (2020). Additive effect of botanical insecticide and entomopathogenic fungi on pest mortality and the behavioral response of its natural enemy. Plants, 9(2), pp. 173. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9020173
  • Research / Scholarly Interests:

    Steven is part of the Chemical Ecology group, and a lot of his work is focused in this research area, investigating chemical messages between organisms. This has involved numerous projects on insect pheromones or host attractants, specifically for pest insects where these attractants can be used as lures for insect traps as part of pest monitoring or trapping strategies. This has included many pests both domestic and international such as Spotted Wing Drosophila, Vine Weevil, Rhinoceros Beetle, Tomato Bug and many more.

    The second main aspect of Steven’s work at NRI is investigating innovative biopesticides against persistent crop pests, such as his work on the Fall Army Worm, an invasive pest in Africa and south-west Asia. Steven and the team tested the efficacy of combining a botanical insecticide and an entomopathogenic fungi against this pest which helps mitigate the drawbacks of these biopesticide when used in isolation.

    Both of these research aspects play a role in integrated pest management strategies which is an important aspect of moving away from traditional synthetic chemical interventions and contributes to the NRI’s impact within sustainable agricultural intensification.
  • Teaching Programmes:

    Postgraduate:

    • Agriculture for Sustainable Development, MSc.
    • Biotechnology, MSc.
    • Food Innovation, MSc.
    • Food Safety and Quality Management, MSc.
    • Global Environmental Change, MSc.

    Undergraduate:

    • Biology, BSc.
    • Biomedical Science, BSc.
    • Chemistry, BSc.
    • Forensic Science, BSc.
    • Forensics and Criminology, BSc.
    • Human Health, BSc.
    • Pharmaceutical Sciences, BSc.
  • Research Projects:

    FLYTHRIVE: Fly-led Yield Thriving in Horticulture with Integrated Vision and Ecology (PI, Innovate UK)

    FLYTHRIVE is a collaborative project between Olombria, NIAB and NRI aimed to tackle rising insect pest infestations in common berry crops using advanced AI, natural lures and selected species of aphidophagous hoverflies to monitor the crop and trigger earlier intervention continuously.

    Horticulture: Smart trap for improved early detection of vine weevil to enable successful application of integrated pest management (PI, BBSRC)

    Vine weevils are a damaging pest for the both the horticulture and plant ornamental sectors. While population control is achieved through the application of nematodes this process is hindered by poor monitoring solutions. This limitation results in both unneeded applications and late applications of nematodes.

    In collaboration with Harper Adams University, we have developed a “smart trap” solution to vine weevil monitoring. This trap has motion activated remote camera system with a semiochemical lure and a machine learning based algorithm for weevil detection. 

    Environmentally Benign Combination Biopesticides: Transforming Pest Control in Chinese and UK agriculture (Co-I, Innovate UK). 

    Due to issues with environmental contamination, pesticide resistance and non-target mortality the use of traditional pesticides worldwide has seen a reduction. In many cases these pesticides have been replaced with biopesticides. Botanical pesticides, such as pyrethrum, are known to be less toxic than their synthetic equivalents but degrade in UV light and thus offer shorter protection. Entomopathogenic Fungi is a fungus that infects insects and offers long term protection in the field but there is a lag time before they become effective.

    To mitigate these issues, we combined both botanical insecticides and entomopathogenic fungi into one pest control solution to mitigate the drawbacks of using each individually (Harte et al, 2024).

    Exploitation of interspecific signals to deter oviposition by spotted-wing drosophila (Co-I, BBSRC-IPA)

    The invasive insect pest, spotted-wing drosophila (SWD) lays its eggs in soft fruit which hatch into larvae, feed on the fruit, causing fruit collapse and significant economic losses worldwide. Thus far SWD has evaded integrated pest management strategies and current control methods rely primarily on insecticide applications, which are not sustainable long-term solutions.  In this project we showed that D. suzukii were deterred from laying eggs on artificial media exposed to egg laying Drosophila melanogaster, its sister species. This deterrent effect would prove invaluable for soft fruit growers if it could be replicated without the presence of the sister species. Through an exhaustive search we deduced that this signal did not appear to be solely chemical in nature and likely requires live microorganisms (Tungadi et al., 2022).
  • Research Students:

    PhD students:

    • Deanna Mills (1st Supervisor)
    • Safinatu Ameen (1st Supervisor)
    • Asoo Yaji (2nd Supervisor)
    • Cedric Maforimbo (2nd Supervisor)
    • Francesca Amanesih (3rd Supervisor)

    Completed:

    • Louise Malmgren (3rd Supervisor)
  • Greenwich Academic Literature Archive (GALA) link: https://gala.gre.ac.uk/view/authors/6921.html
  • Responsibilities:
    • Postdoctoral Researcher
    • Lecturer
    • Co-Chair of the Faculty of engineering and Sciences
    • Early career researcher representative for the NRI
  • Awards:

    • MRSC (Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry)

    • MSCI (Member of the Society of Chemical Industry)

    • MRES (Member of the Royal Entomological Society)

    • FHEA (Fellow of the Higher Education Authority)
  • External Profiles:

    ORCID

    https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9628-7912

    LinkedIn

    https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-harte-56543745

    Google Scholar

    https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=SDgAgrwAAAAJ&hl=en

    ResearcherID (WoS)

    https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/AAW-5652-2021

    Research Gate

    https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Steven-Harte/research

    Academia

    https://independent.academia.edu/StevenJHarte
Phone: +44 (0)1634 88 3955
Senior Lecturer in Chemical Ecology
Professor Alan Cork
  • NRI Department: Livelihoods and Institutions Department
  • Biography:

    Emeritus Professor of Bio-Rational Pest Management, and former Head of Agriculture, Health and Environment Group. Professor Cork has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers resulting from 30 years experience of research to develop and implement IPM-compatible solutions to crop-pest and disease-vector problems that affect the livelihoods of resource-poor farmers in South Asia, South America and Africa.
Phone: +44 (0)1634 88 3199
Emeritus Professor of Bio-rational Pest Management
Professor Christopher Atkinson
  • NRI Department: Livelihoods and Institutions Department
  • Qualifications: BSc, PhD, MI Hort, FI Hort, FSB
  • Biography:

    Professor Christopher Atkinson joined the University of Greenwich from East Malling Research in late 2012. Previously he worked for Unilever Research Ltd, Welwyn, and for the Agriculture Food Research Council at Rothamsted Research Station, in Harpenden (1971–76) as assistant (ASO) to the analyst. After obtaining advanced City & Guilds qualifications in analytical chemistry at Hatfield Polytechnic (now the University of Hertfordshire), he read for a degree in applied biology at London University (1976–79), followed by a PhD at UNCW Bangor (1982) with Professor J.F. Farrar in the department of J.L. Harper FRS. Professor Atkinson has held postdoctoral research positions in the Department of Forestry, University of Wales (1982–84) with M.P. Denne; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Virginia, USA (1984–87) with W.E. Winner; was a visiting scholar at Stanford University, California, USA (1984–87) working with H.A. Mooney; worked in the Department of Biological Sciences, Lancaster University, UK (1987–90) and, with a NERC Research Fellowship (1990–91), worked with T.A. Mansfield FRS and W.J. Davies CBE. He moved to Horticulture Research International (HRI), East Malling as a Senior Scientific Officer in Crop Physiology (1992), working with H.G. Jones. Professor Atkinson was promoted to Principle Research Scientist in the Perennial Quality and Biotechnology, East Malling (1997) and became an Executive Member of EMR's Science Management Team (2004–12) and Head of Science (2006–11) and then Deputy Chief Executive and Senior Programme Leader, resource use and sustainable production (2011–12) working with P.J. Gregory (CEO).

    Professor Atkinson also held positions as:

    • Executive Director of East Malling Limited (2009–10)
    • Executive Director of Plant Vaccines Limited (2009–11)
    • Executive Director of Malling Limited (2010–12).

    Currently, he is Emeritus Professor of Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change, Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich. to present).
  • Selected Publications:
  • Research / Scholarly Interests:

    Professor Atkinson's research interests focus on understanding the impacts of environmental stress on the growth and development of crops, with particular expertise in perennial woody crops, such as apples and pears. His work includes studies of the influence of water on fruit growth and quality, and the impacts of chilling on flowering and cropping, and developing strategies to optimise production through understanding the processes which control fruit set and retention. The drought stress tolerance mechanisms of different crops, particularly those linked to the root behaviour of woody crops, have been extensively investigated.

    Recent work is directed at the health benefits of fruit consumption, particularly with respect to agronomic ways to enhance bioactive secondary metabolites, such as antioxidants. Research also includes non-food crops, i.e. perennial biomass crops, enhancing artemisinin production (an antimalarial) in A. annua, pharmaceutical protein production (e.g. cyanovirin) in GM tobacco and biochar sequestration impacts on agriculture. This research provides the foundation of his vision for developing ways to intensify food production using sustainable approaches which facilitate crops and growing systems which cope with climate change stress, particularly drought.

    He has also devoted time to promoting the understanding of science issues within the food production industry and with the general public.
  • Awards:
    • Member, British Ecological Society (1997 to present)
    • Member, International Society of Horticultural Science (1992 to present)
    • Member, Board of Advisors to the New Phytologist (1995–98)
    • Associate editor, Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology (1995–2004).
    • Member, Board of Reviewers of Journal of Experimental Botany (1990 to present)
    • Member, Society of Experimental Biology (1980 to present)
    • Editor, Plant Growth Regulation (2003–04)
    • Editor in Chief, Plant Growth Regulation (2004–09)
    • Visiting Member, Academic staff at Reading University (2011–16)
    • Member, Institute of Horticulture (2011–12)
    • Fellow, Society of Biology (2011 to present)
    • Fellow, Institute of Horticulture (2012 to present)
    • Reviewer for the Biotechnological and Biological Research Council (2008 to present)
    • Appointed to the BBSRC UK Pool of Experts (2011 to present).
    • Appointed to the UK BBSRC Horticulture and Potato Initiative – Steering Group and reviewer (2012 to present).
    • Member of stakeholder group for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Science and Technology in Agriculture, UK (2009 to present).
    • Reviewer for Acta Horticulturae-International Society of Horticultural Science, Annals of Botany, Biologicals, Chemical Industry and Chemical Engineering Quarterly, Environmental Science and Technology, Experimental Agriculture, Experimental and Environmental Biology, Functional Plant Biology, International Journal of Molecular Science, Journal of Experimental Botany, Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology, Malaria Journal, Planta, Plant Growth Regulation, Plant and Soil, Royal Agricultural Society of England, Tree Physiology, and other international plant journals.

    International research proposal reviewer for the following:

    • USDA–National Research Initiative, Plant Response to the Environment
    • University Grants Committee, Hong Kong
    • Invited reviewer, BBSRC Industrial Partnership Awards, 2009
    • The International Foundation for Science, 2010
    • BiodivERsA2011-83 programme, 2011
    • Swiss National Science Foundation, 2011
    • USDA, NIFA programme, 2012
    • Member of the International Atomic Energy Authority, Fruits Working Group.
    • External PhD examiner at Lancaster University, University of Reading, University of Dundee and University of Bristol.
    • Judge at the National Fruit Show (1996 to present).
Phone: +44 (0)1634 88 3199
Emeritus Professor of Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change
Professor George Rothschild
  • NRI Department: Livelihoods and Institutions Department
  • Qualifications: PhD
  • Biography:

    Professor George Rothschild is a dual British-Australian citizen with over 50 years of post-doctoral experience of research and development in low and middle income countryes with lengthy periods of residence in two South-East Asia countries, and shorter-term assignments elsewhere in 40 developing nations in Asia, Africa and Latin America. He obtained a BSc (Hons) at the University of Nottingham - UK in 1959, and a PhD and DIC from the Imperial College of Science & Technology - UK in 1962. His ‘hands-on’ research spanned the first 30 years of his career (up to 1987), mostly in insect pest behaviour and ecology, and their application in integrated pest management; this included 17 years as Chief Research Scientist and Deputy Divisional Chief at the Commonwealth Scientific &Industrial Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia, but also assignments in Asia during that time. From 1987 through 1998, Professor Rothschild held various positions including Foundation Director of the then Australian Bureau of Rural Science (BRS), CEO of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), and Director-General of the CGIAR International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). He also served for some time as the lead technical adviser to several Australian Federal Government Ministers - including the Minister for Foreign Affairs & Trade, three successive Ministers for Overseas Development, and the Minister for Primary Industries & Energy. Professor Rothschild joined NRI in 1998 on a part-time basis, assisting the then Director with resource mobilisation and policy issues, and since retirement in 2001 has worked for NRI in various projects funded by the European Commission, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and others. From 2005-2015, he was a part-time programme advisor for Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Chemical Regulatory Directorate (CRD), and is presently (2019) working in two projects in Africa and another in Myanmar. Throughout his career and up to the present he has served as Chair or Member of the governing Boards of a number of international organisations – see Awards and External Recognition section.
  • Selected Publications:

    ***Note: Most research publications ceased in 1991; remaining publications up to the present, largely conference papers and consultant reports;

    Selected research publications
    • Rothschild, G.H.L. (2014). Some personal recollections of pheromone research in the 1970s. Journal of Chemical Ecology. 40:311-312
    • Būda, V., Mäeorg, U., Karalius, V., Rothschild, G.H.L., Kolonistova, S.,Ivinskis, P. & R. Mozūraitis, R. (1993). C18 Dienes as attractants for eighteen clearwing (Sesiidae), tineid (Tineidae), and choreutid (Choreutidae) moth spp. Journal of Chemical Ecology 19: 799-813
    • Rothschild, G.H.L. & Vickers, R.A. (1991) Ecology and control of Oriental Fruit Moth. Pp 389-412. In: World Crop Pests – Tortricid Pests. Elsevier. Oxford
    • Vickers, R.A. & Rothschild, G.H.L. (1991) Use of pheromones for control of Codling Moth. Pp 339-354, In: World Crop Pests – Tortricid Pests. Elsevier. Oxford.
    • Szöcs, G, Miller L.A., Thomas, W., Vickers, R.A., Rothschild, G.H.L., Schwarz M., and Tóth, M. (1990). Compounds modifying male responsiveness to main female sex pheromone component of the currant borer, Synanthedon tipuliformis clerk (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae) under field conditions.  Journal of Chemical Ecology 16 :1289–1305
    • Rothschild, G.H.L. (1986). The Potato Moth –an adaptable pest of short-term cropping systems. Pp 144-162, In: The Ecology of Exotic Animals & Plants. John Wiley & Sons. NY
    • Vickers, R.A., Rothschild, G.H.L. and Jones, E.L. (1986). Control of the oriental fruit moth, Cydia molesta (Busck) at a district level by mating disruption with synthetic female sex pheromone. Bulletin of Entomological Research 75: 625-634.
    • Rothschild, G.H.L. (1983). Mating disruption of Lepidopterous pests: Current status and future prospects. Pp 207-228.  In: (Mitchell, E.R. Ed) Management of Insect Pests with Semiochemicals: concepts & Practice. Springer, Boston, USA.
    • Rothschild, G.H.L (1982). Suppression of mating in codling moths with synthetic sex pheromone and other compounds. In: Insect suppression with controlled release pheromone systems. Vol 2, Pp 117-134. CRC Press: Boca Raton, USA.
    • Van der Laan, P.A. and Rothschild G.H.L (1981). The Pests of Crops of Indonesia. Ichtar Baru –Van Hoeve   xix  + 701pp.
    • Rothschild, G.H.L. (1971). The biology and ecology of rice-stem borers in Sarawak (Malaysian Borneo). Journal of Applied Ecology. 8:  287-322.
    • Rothschild, G.H.L. (1970). Observations on the ecology of the rice-ear bug, Leptocorisa oratorious (F.) (Hemiptera: Alydidae) in Sarawak (Malaysian Borneo).  Journal of Applied Ecology. 7: 147-167.
    • Rothschild, G. H. L. (1966a). A study of a natural population of Conomelus anceps(Germar) (Homoptera: Delphacidae) including observations on predation using the precipitin test. Journal of Animal Ecology 35: 413–434.
    Selected consultancy reports
    • Rothschild, G. and Pillot, D. (2014). Development of a robust commercially sustainable multiple use sorghum value chain in Kenya and Tanzania. ICRISAT. Review of EC-IFAD funded CGIAR projects. Agrinatura-EEIG. European Commission.
    • Rothschild, G. and Tollens, E. (2013). Guidelines for reviewing EC-funded CGIAR Projects after the CGIAR reform in the context of the CGIAR Research Programmes (CRPs) Agrinatura-EEIG. European Commission.
    • Rothschild, G. (2012). Global Public Goods: their Role in contributing to Food Security and Poverty Reduction. Report to Directorate-General.  DevCo. European Commission.
    • Rothschild, G., Adolph, B, Tollens, E. & Mokunweye, U. (2012). Joint Review (External Program & Management Review and Mid-Term Review) of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA). FARA. Accra.
    • Rothschild, G. and Tollens, E. (2011). Guidelines for joint review missions applicable in 2011 & 2012 in the EIARD framework for the monitoring & evaluation of the CGIAR. Agrinatura-EEIG. European Commission.
    • Rothschild, G. and Egelyng, H. (2009). Rice policy and technology impact on food security and poverty eradication – AfricaRice Center.  Review of EC-IFAD funded CGIAR projects December 2009. Agrinatura-EEIG. European Commission.
    • Rothschild, G.H.L. (2007). Consultant report to Ad Hoc Executive Committee on CGIAR Reform. Restructuring of CGIAR and System priorities. September 2007. CGIAR, Washington.
    • Rothschild, G.H.L. (2003) Review of ACIAR Project: Management of rodent pests in rice-based farming systems in Southeast Asia.  ACIAR, Canberra.
    • Rothschild, G. (with ODI, CEPA, N.M. Rothschild Ltd) (2002). Rural Enterprise Technology Facility (RETF). Supporting Pro-Poor Private Sector Rural Enterprise Development. Final Report. March 2002. FCDO, London.
    • Rothschild, G. (2002). Review of Biotechnology capacity in Sub-Saharan Africa: Centres of Excellence in-country and scope for International laboratory at John Innes Centre (JIC) Commissioned – Gatsby Charitable Trust, London. September 2002.
  • Research / Scholarly Interests:

    Professor Rothschild’s disciplinary research interests are insect ecology, especially population regulatory mechanisms, and insect behaviour, particularly the role of semiochemicals in mediating reproduction. The application of both these areas of research to practical insect pest management (IPM) in horticultural and agricultural crops in the developing world as well as in Australia, represented the main body of work during his “hands-on” post-doctoral research career of ca 30 years After this period, although retaining his more specific research interests, his main roles have been in directing international research for development institutions in Australia and other parts of the world, implementing and managing programmes on a broad range of agricultural and natural resource management issues, and conducting monitoring, evaluation and impact reviews for development partners/investors including ACIAR, FCDO, European Commission, FAO, IFAD and the World Bank, Professor Rothschild has also been actively engaged in advocacy for international agricultural research for development with standing and non-standing parliamentary committees in Australia and similar committees and all-party parliamentary groups in the UK.
  • Awards:
    • Elected Fellow of the ‘Australian Academy of Technological Sciences & Engineering’. 1991.
    • Elected Honorary Fellow of the ‘Royal Entomological Society of London’. 2001.
    • Awarded Tropical Agriculture Association (TAA) ‘Development Agriculturalist of the Year.’ 2015
    • Member of Board of CGIAR ‘International Water Management Institute’ (IWMI). 2011-2017.
    • Chair of Board of CGIAR ‘Challenge Programme on Water & Food’ (CPWF). 2008-2011.
    • Member of Board of ‘Crops for the Future Research Centre’(CFFRC/CFF). 2009 to present.
    • Chair of Board of ’International Centre for Underutilised Crops’/ ‘Crops for the Future’. 2005-2009.
    • Chair of ‘European Forum on Agricultural Research for Development’ (EFARD). 2007-2010.
    • Chair of ‘UK Forum on Agricultural Research for Development’ (UKFARD). 2007-present.
    • Member of FCDO RNRRS Crop Protection Research Advisory Committee. 1999-2006.
    • Member of FCDO RNRRS Plant Sciences Research Programme Advisory Committee 2000-2006.
    • Member of Governing Board of CABI (Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International). 1992-2000.
    • International Advisory Committee for 2020 Vision (with Norman Borlaug, Robert McNamara et al.). 1995-97.
    • Member of Board of Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS). 1995-97.
    • Member of Committee of International Plant Protection Congresses. 1986-89.
    • Editorial Board (former member) of (i) Bulletin of Entomological Research; (ii) Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment; (iii) International Journal of Pest Management; (iv) Journal of Agricultural Science; (v) BioControl (previously Entomophaga); (vi) Experimental Agriculture.
    • Vice-President of Australian Entomological Society. 1984-88.
    • Member of Australian Entomological Society (present), Member of British Ecological Society (past), Ecological Society of Australia (past); Fellow (Honorary) Royal Entomological Society of London (present, and see above).
Phone: +44 (0)1634 88 3199
Emeritus Professor of International Agriculture
Professor John Porter
  • NRI Department: Livelihoods and Institutions Department
Phone: +44 (0)1634 88 3199
Emeritus Professor of Agriculture and Climate Change

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