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20/12/2019

PhD: Environmental and intra/interspecific approaches to nutrient security – Fruit for the UK’s food security

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  • ORGANISATION NAME
    NIAB EMR
  • ORGANISATION COUNTRY
    United Kingdom
  • FUNDING TYPE
    Funding
  • DEADLINE DATE
    28/01/2020
  • RESEARCH FIELD
    Natural sciences
  • CAREER STAGE
    First Stage Researcher (R1) (Up to the point of PhD)

Outline

South Coast Biosciences (SoCoBio) is a new BBSRC-funded Doctoral Training Partnership offering a broad 4-year research training programme which provides students with the skills they need to develop into future bioscience leaders in academia or in industry. One of the projects is "Environmental and intra/interspecific approaches to nutrient security – Fruit for the UK’s food security"

Project Summary

Policies and regulations that directly or indirectly affect the supply or prices of food products, their safety and nutritional composition influence the food choices consumers make and, ultimately, the nutritional quality of their diets. International trade has been critical in providing UK consumers with fruit and vegetable. Different trade scenarios have been developed to assess the impact on the balance of UK and non-UK sourcing of agricultural food commodities and the nutrient intake. However, the estimates of nutrient intakes are calculated using nutrient composition datasheets which are seldom accurate. Among the factors that may alter the nutrient composition of a food are: i) variation among cultivars in nutrient contents, ii) local agronomic factors and weather conditions that affect growth rate and yield, iii) agronomic practices. To accommodate these sources of error, it is common to discount the values in the databases by 10-25%, however, such modest discounts may still overestimate nutrient intakes.
This project will investigate the nutritional gaps in UK fruit and vegetables and the key nutritional challenges influencing nutrient intakes. Strawberries, the fifth most consumed fruit, will be used as a model crop.
The project aims are to:
• investigate genetic variability. The variability will be determined not only on commercial cultivars but as well on mapping populations. The results will help to assist breeders in selecting nutrient-dense cultivars.
• determine the differences between locally produced and imported strawberries, which will affect the seasonal nutrient intake. For instance, vitamin C content of fruit is often found to decrease upon storage and transportation.
• determine the effect of agronomic practices nutrient content. Controlled environment experiments and a survey across commercial production sites will be carried out.
• understand the vulnerabilities in nutrient levels in the UK (identified via trade analysis statistics – paper in preparation) and UK food security in relation to the different levels of micronutrients identified.

What is funded

Awards are offered for 4 years (48 months) full time. The scholarships cover:

• PhD fees at the Home/EU level (£4,327 pa for 2019-20)

• The UKRI maintenance allowance (£15,009 for 2019-20)

• A research and training allowance

Part time awards are available

Duration

4 years

Eligibility

Minimum Academic Eligibility Criteria Candidates should have a BSc/MSci 2:1 and/or Masters (MSc or MRes) at Merit/Distinction level (>60%) and/or evidence of significant relevant professional experience equivalent to Masters level. SoCoBio welcomes applications from candidates with sustained experience beyond their undergraduate degree level that is specifically relevant to biosciences research. This includes students with degrees in science or engineering-disciplines outside of biology. Nationality and Residency Criteria As the scholarships are funded by BBSRC, the partnership has to observe the UK Research and Innovation Training Grant Terms and Conditions and so the following eligibility conditions apply:

1. Overseas students (i.e. students charged overseas tuition fees) are not eligible for BBSRC funding;

2. To be eligible for a full award (stipend and fees) and Student must:

- have no restrictions on how long they can stay in the UK and

- have been ordinarily resident in the UK for at least 3 years prior to the start of the Studentship (with some further constraint regarding residence for education).

3. To be eligible for a fees only award, a Student must be ordinarily resident in a member state of the EU, in the same way as UK Students must be ordinarily resident in the UK.

 

More Information

http://www.emr.ac.uk/
https://research.kent.ac.uk/socobio/environmental-and-intra-interspecific-app...

Disclaimer:

The responsibility for the funding offers published on this website, including the funding description, lies entirely with the publishing institutions. The application is handled uniquely by the employer, who is also fully responsible for the recruitment and selection processes.