CIC-START PhD Programme

The Crop Innovation Centre
- Skills, Technology And Research Training Programme (CIC-START) is an industrial doctoral landscape award (IDLA) funded by BBSRC that tackles skills shortages in UK agriculture by training researchers who can translate crop science into practical innovations.

This collaboration between the Universities of Dundee, Nottingham, Harper Adams and the James Hutton Institute brings on board more than 20 industrial partners from across the barley, potato and cereals sectors. The programme will support resilient, sustainable production and will deliver benefits across crop supply chains with research projects aligned to three broad themes:

• Sustainable agricultural systems - resilient production via crop management and genetics, using precision phenotyping, new breeding technologies, AI and big data.
• Crop and soil health - resistance and integrated pest management (including AI-driven prediction) and improving the root-soil interface (carbon, water and nutrient availability; cover crops).
• Waste and GHG reductions - reducing inputs and losses, improving resource-use efficiency, mitigating emissions, and reducing post-harvest damage (e.g., bruising/spoilage).

Our 4-year PhD programme offers students the opportunity to become part of a collaborative community of researchers from both academia and industry. Each studentship covers full tuition fees, a stipend at the UKRI rate and a research grant to support project costs.

• A high-quality PhD project embedded in a wider programme with strong academic and industry engagement - projects and training are co-created with industry to stay focused on real-world needs and include an industrial placement
• Structured training in general and specialist skills and individual development planning aligned to the Vitae Researcher Development Framework.
• Knowledge-exchange opportunities through placements and programme events, with regular chances to present your work to academic and industry stakeholders.
• A positive, supportive culture with clear feedback routes, and a commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion (including flexible participation options for many projects).

Projects available for September/October 2026 entry, more details on the individual projects are below, you can select up to three choices in your application form.

Complete your application form through the Apply Now link

The Final date to receive applications is Monday 10th August 2026

Lead Supervisor–James Price (James Hutton Institute)

Additional Supervisors– Ashleigh Holmes, Matthew Back (Harper Adams University) and Dawn Arnold (Harper Adams University)

Industrial Supervisor– Don Pendergrast, Agrii

This project will be based at the James Hutton Institute with some time spent at Harper Adams University, Centre for Crop and Environmental Science

Potato cyst nematodes (Globodera spp., PCN) are among the most damaging pathogens to potato production globally. Blackleg, caused by Pectobacterium and Dickeya spp., causes downgrading of seed potatoes and soft rot storage losses. While both potato cyst nematode and Pectobacterium spp. infections are common in some areas, simultaneous infection of both pathogens in the same host are almost never seen. As obligate, sedentary parasites, PCN must protect their feeding site to complete their lifecycle.

Comparatively, bacterial pathogens are mobile with short generation times.

Both PCN and Pectobacterium spp. are known to respond to host root exudates facilitating host invasion. PCN hatching is controlled by chemical cues produced in potato root exudates. Younger plants produce root exudates with a higher ratio of hatch inhibitors to hatch factors meaning that fewer nematodes infect earlier, thus reducing infection pressure on young immature plants. After successful invasion, PCN are known to modify their host to produce a suitable feeding site.

It is possible that this modification by PCN also changes the composition of host root exudates, producing products that deter…