About

The John Innes Centre (JIC) is a leading interdisciplinary research institute for plant and microbial science. Founded as the John Innes Horticultural Institution in 1910, the Centre was originally based in South London. It moved to Norwich in 1967 and became the John Innes Centre in 1994 after a merger with the Cambridge Laboratory and the Nitrogen Fixation Laboratory.  

JIC has a rich history of making significant scientific discoveries in wheat research. The value of the historic discoveries in wheat made at the JIC were estimated to be worth £4.9bn globally. An independent evaluation found that the work currently being undertaken on wheat by the Centre will contribute an estimated £100m Gross Value Added to the UK and £4.3bn to the rest of the world over the next 25 years.

Recent research into wheat genetics and genomics as part of Professor Cristobal Uauy’s research programme identified genes which control grain size and spike architecture, which could enable scientists, in the long term, to increase yield and improve crop emergence and vigour. JIC is part of the Designing Future Wheat Programme, the UK’s National Wheat Research Programme.

The Centre’s researchers are from 33 countries, of which 64% are from outside the UK. The Centre is currently involved in 137 international collaborations with 39 countries. Between 2007 and 2017, 68% of JIC publications were co-authored with international partners. JIC’s international reach strengthens the science it produces and increases the impact of its work.

What JIC will be working on

Project: Leveraging genetic innovations for accelerated breeding of climate resilient and nutritious crops

Wheat is the most widely cultivated crop in the world. It feeds much of the world’s population: 793 million metric tons of wheat were consumed globally in FY2021-22. Increasing wheat yield is vital to meeting future worldwide food requirements. Given global population growth, wheat production needs to increase 60% by 2050 to meet global demand.

This project aims to help address this challenge by

1. accelerating the breeding process and delivering higher genetic gain by adopting new breeding approaches (genome editing),
2. exploiting novel genetic variation
3. developing data-driven approaches.

JIC will undertake its research activities in collaboration with ICARDA and CIMMYT alongside national partners in Kenya, Egypt, and Pakistan. These countries have all set goals of becoming self-sufficient in wheat production and this project aligns closely with these aims.

Who JIC will be working with

JIC, ICARDA and CIMMYT have long-standing ties with its partners in the countries where the research will be conducted. In Kenya, JIC will be working with CIMMYT and KALRO-Njoro. The JIC worked with these partners through the Wheat Disease Early Warning Advisory System (Wheat DEWAS) project, an FCDO/BMGF funded initiative. JIC have also worked closely with KALRO and wider NARES on Bioinformatics Community of Practice.

In Pakistan, Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) Islamabad and JIC worked together to develop the high iron genome edited lines. The CGIAR centres and JIC have a long-standing strategic partnership which has included years of germplasm exchange and multiple joint projects, such as the International Wheat Yield Partnership. As a result of this collaboration, JIC can now generate genome edited lines directly in CGIAR wheat varieties, such as Borlaug100, Zincol, and Omrabi5. This unique expertise allows timely editing directly in target country relevant germplasm.

JIC and ARC-Egypt have previously worked together on wheat genetics and provided training on genomics. ICARDA and the Agricultural Research Center (ARC) established the Wheat Improvement Program in 2009 to improve germplasm, enhance crop management, and strengthen Egypt’s national capacity in wheat production. CIMMYT and QAU coordinate work through the university’s Dr. Awais Rasheed, who is also an Associate Researcher with CIMMYT.

JIC will generate transgene-free genome edited lines, evaluate their performance in glasshouse and share the findings with partners. Targeting Induced Local Lesions in Genomes (TILLING) mutants and genome edited lines will be evaluated for wheat rust resistance in Kenya (by KALRO and CIMMYT) and Egypt (by ARC and ICARDA). Genome edited lines for high iron will be tested in Pakistan by QAU and partners in Kenya and Egypt. ICARDA and CIMMYT will work with JIC on big-data analytics and whole-genome analyses. All partners will work together on training and communication.

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The university’s School of Environmental science leads several cross-faculty initiatives, such as:

1. The Global Food and Environment Institute,
2. the Priestley Centre for Climate Futures, 
3. water@leeds, and
4. Geosolutions Leeds.

Leeds also hosts the Climate Impacts Group, a research cluster exploring how climate variability and change affects food security. The university also has a decade-long partnership with CGIAR CCAFS. This collaborationhas been critical in driving innovation in climate smart food systems.

The university’s experts play leading roles in developing climate change policy. Professor Andrew Challinor was Lead Author on the ‘Food Production Systems and Food Security’ chapter of the Fifth Assessment report of the IPCC and Lead Author for the UK Climate Change Risk Assessment 2017. Dr Ahmed Gailani was selected by the Climate Change Committee work on the UK’s industrial decarbonisation efforts and Professor Piers Foster is one of the UK’s official climate change advisers.

What the researchers will be working on

Project: iSPARK: innovation in sustainability, policy, adaptation and resilience in Kenya

In Kenya, environmental degradation and climate change threaten the sustainability and resilience of smallholder farming systems. Farmers need timely and accurate climate information to make informed decisions. Meanwhile, policy makers need evidence to prioritise policy choices and investment decisions that contribute to environmental sustainability, climate resilience, and other sustainable development goals.

Through its multi-scale approach, iSPARK will bridge the CGIAR Initiatives Excellence in Agronomy (EiA) and Climate Resilience (ClimBeR), to deliver farm-level interventions and the evidence-based policy pathways and investments that are needed to transform food systems. Working in western Kenya iSPARK, will build on a range of previous and ongoing research collaborations and partnerships in integrating work from across CGIAR Initiatives.

Who Leeds will be working with

iSPARK will be led by Julian Ramirez (Alliance, EiA), Andrew Challinor (University of Leeds, ClimBeR), and Medha Devare (IITA, EiA). The CGIAR and University of Leeds have a long history of effective and equitable collaboration stretching back to the inception of CCAFS in 2010. Collaboration between Ramirez and Challinor stretches back almost as far. Ramirez and Devare have been working closely together under EiA’s TRANSFORM Work Package for over three years, including for the development of AgWISE.

EiA partners have worked with the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), and developed a Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning, and Impact Assessment framework, along with a mechanism to assess Agronomic KPIs across timescales. In collaboration with Shamba Shape Up, ClimBeR has been working to strengthen the delivery of advisory services and disseminate evidence around sustainable and climate-smart agricultural innovation in Kenya. In addition to work on the ClimBeR project, Leeds will also draw upon several years of experience combining satellite data and machine learning algorithms to develop a prototype early warning system for food security in Kenya as part of the EU-CONFER project.

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About

Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) is an internationally recognised research and teaching centre with a focus on food security and developing a sustainable natural economy. Its history stretches back to 1899 with the establishment of the West of Scotland Agricultural College and its current organisation came into being through a merger of smaller institutions.

SRUC is home to one of the largest groups of animal scientists in Europe. It has 1,300 staff who operate from 6 campuses, 8 farms, 25 consulting offices, 6 research centres and 8 veterinary surveillance centres located primarily across Scotland.

The college has received numerous accolades for its high-quality research. It was awarded Queens Anniversary Prize and was ranked first in the UK by the Research Excellence Framework for Agriculture, Veterinary and Food Science.

SRUC’s research on greenhouse gas emissions and farming practices informed Scotland’s Climate Change Plan. The college’s data-driven work on livestock has helped improve the efficiency of UK beef and dairy production, bringing significant economic benefits. 

SRUC research has contributed to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s GHG reporting guidelines and has been adopted by international reporting of GHG emissions to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

What the researchers will be working on

Project: Defining new phenotypes for forage and crop by-products improvement based on rumen function and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions

Livestock is a fast-growing, high-value agricultural subsector, accounting for 15–80% of GDP in low- and middle-income countries. In Africa and Asia, demand for livestock products is expected to grow 200% by 2030. However, it also generates a significant proportion of anthropogenic GHG emissions. The main source of methane in ruminants in the rumen or paunch, which is the largest stomach compartment.

Rumen utilisation has been identified as the key to efficient use of forages and by-products whilst minimising GHG emissions. Although it is possible to measure such properties, the lack of high throughput techniques has limited their use as effective phenotyping to improve plant breeding targets.

The project will address this problem by developing feed stuffs that allow animals to meet their genetic potential whilst providing the tools to identify the genes and genetic signatures to develop feedstuffs that minimise the environmental footprint of ruminant agriculture. This project combines expertise in plant breeding and ruminant nutrition within the partnership to develop and exploit new phenotypes for forages and crop residues in ruminant production systems.

Who SRUC will be working with

For this project the UK-CGIAR Centre is building a new partnership between SRUC and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). ILRI, which is part of CGIAR, works for better lives through livestock in developing countries. ILRI is co-hosted by Kenya and Ethiopia, with 14 offices across Asia and Africa.

The partners will share resources and approaches developed independently to achieve a common goal. As the project progresses, the partners will utilise staff exchanges at all levels to promote exchange of resources, techniques and knowledge.

Colleagues from both partners will spend time in each other’s laboratories, facilitating the transfer of techniques and understanding. Partners in the Global South will be involved in seed and forage production, extension, and farmer training together with established partners in the livestock production sector. Training workshops will be held to engage partners across the Global South in the use of rumen-based phenotypes as a means of improving ruminant production from by-products and forages. This work will aims strengthen capacity in the areas of forage improvement and utilisation and animal nutrition and rumen function.

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About

The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is one of the world’s leading public health universities. Its mission is to improve health and health equity in the UK and worldwide by working in partnership to achieve excellence in public and global health research, education and translation of knowledge into policy and practice.

Founded in 1899, it has two sites at Keppel Street and Tavistock Place in London, as well as units in The Gambia and Uganda. With an annual research income of over £190 million, LSHTM engages in a multitude of research activities in over 100 countries, as well as training the next generation of health leaders through its postgraduate courses. Staff and students are united in seeking to create a more healthy, sustainable and equitable world for everyone.

LSHTM’s international presence and collaborative approach to research means it is uniquely placed to help shape health policy and translate findings into impact across the globe. It is ranked 1st for the key measure of impact and joint 10th overall of all universities in the UK in tables based on the government’s Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021) published in the Times Higher Education. The REF21 listed LSHTM as one of only three institutions in the UK found to be providing a world-leading environment for public health research.

In 2017, LSHTM received a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education in recognition of its work on Ebola, and in 2022 it was awarded the prize for its response to COVID-19. LSHTM was at the forefront of informing the UK and global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, from modelling the spread, control measures and impact of the virus, to tracking attitudes to vaccines. During the pandemic, many clinically-trained staff and students voluntarily returned to work in the NHS. Other LSHTM staff gave their expertise to the UK government for free as members of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) and its various sub-groups.

What the researchers will be working on

Project: Fruits and Vegetables for Sustainable Healthy Diets (FRESH) – Expanded Network with UK Partners (FRESH-EN UP)

Food systems are highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. The effects on yields and supply chains are likely to make nutritious diets increasingly unaffordable and inaccessible and worsen dietary and health problems. Tanzania represents a notable case study.

The effects of climate change, such as higher temperatures and decreasing rainfall affects, has led to a reduction in Tanzania’s agricultural production. The cost of nutrient dense foods in the country has increased, meaning many Tanzanians lack access to nutritious foods. More than a quarter of the country’s children under the age of five exhibit stunting. Furthermore, reduced crop yields affect the incomes of Tanzania’s small-scale food producers.

This project aims to increase intake of fruits and vegetables in Tanzania, especially among nutritionally at-risk populations such as women of reproductive age and adolescents, through:

1. the promotion of climate-smart agricultural practices,
2. measures to reduce food loss and waste, and
3. food environment and demand-generation interventions.

Who LSHTM will be working with

To undertake this work UK-CGIAR has connected LSHTM with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) to leverage each organisation’s expertise.

Each organisation has experience in conducting program and policy relevant research at the intersection of agriculture, diets, and nutrition. These institutes are also highly adept at identifying, co-developing and testing solutions to improve diet and nutrition outcomes.

All organisations are dedicated to creating equitable partnerships. IFPRI and SUA are cire partners on the CGIAR FRESH Initiative which works in Tanzania and LSHTM has on-going work in the country with the Tanzania Food and Nutrition Centre. By building on existing work, the project aims to generate evidence to inform initiatives that support increased fruit and vegetable intake as part of healthy and sustainable diets.

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