A BBSRC-funded Collaborative Training Partnership (CTP) between the Waitrose Partnership, their international food production and supply companies, the University of Warwick, Lancaster University, the University of Reading and Rothamsted Research will deliver 20 four-year PhD studentships between 2017 and 2023.

The first PhD students joined the programme in October 2017. See the press releaseLink opens in a new window.

PhD studentships will be in the areas of

• sustainable crop production

• sustainable soil and water

• biodiversity and ecosystem services in agriculture

Warwick are working with Waitrose and their suppliers, to provide PhD students with a unique combination of academic development and industry training in the field of agriculture and sustainable crop production.

The partnership allows early-career scientists to acquire business skills, marrying their technical expertise with experience of solving real-world problems in the fresh produce industry. This gives PhD students more employment opportunities in an increasingly competitive job market, and ensures that they effect change with their academic knowledge, and contribute to ensuring future global food security.

With global population rise expected to reach 9 billion people by 2050, the UK Agri-Tech strategy calls for new methods, systems and technologies to be adopted to help UK agriculture increase production in a sustainable manner.