Ilma Amalya Qonaah and Jon Hale

Ilma Amalya Qonaah – Identification and validation of aphid resistance gene in wheat 

Ilma’s work has identified the need to incorporate an aphid resistance gene into commercial crops as a number of factors are increasing the chances of aphids causing serious damage to our nation’s wheat stocks. In the past, aphids have been mainly controlled using insecticides, however they are developing resistance to these methods and, combined with increasing temperatures as a result of climate change which is causing a growth in the population of aphids, something more needs to be done. Ilma’s project has focused on testing 29 commercial varieties of wheat to identify which traits encourage the aphid resistance gene to thrive. By identifying these traits, it is hoped that they can be replicated in all commercial wheat, thus decreasing the impact of aphids and the damage that they can cause to crops. Ilma also hopes that the project will be useful to other researchers and crop breeders in their production wheat crop that can withstand pests and other viral challenges. 

Ilma will use the Award to support her upcoming industrial placement, strengthening her ties with the agriculture industry to further the impact of her project and boost her future career prospects. 

Jon Hale – The Daffodil DNA Project 

The Daffodil DNA Project is aimed at impacting scientists, teachers and students to make scientific contributions to our knowledge of daffodils. When the project began in 2021, 8 schools were involved and this has now increased to 23. The project brings cutting edge technology into the classroom, as schools attempt to extract DNA from their samples and sequence it, thus learning about the life-cycle of these well-known plants. The schools involved are able to apply for a grant from the Royal Society to purchase their equipment, leaving a legacy for the work to continue after their involvement in the project is over. Not only does the project have benefits to horticultural science, it is encouraging the next generation of scientists by allowing students to have access to advanced technology which is outside their usual curriculum. Teachers are encouraged to attend training to ensure that they are providing their students with the best possible knowledge, and a real opportunity to contribute to the knowledge of daffodils and their heritage of one of the UK’s most recognisable flora. 

Jon will use the Award to host further teacher training days, which would expand the reach of the project even further and encourage even more schools to be involved. The project supports the future of scientific research and careers, and encourages collaboration between teachers and researchers. 

Jennifer Berger and Bethany Harries

Jennifer Berger – The impact of indoor plants on indoor air quality and the wellbeing of building occupants

People now spend up to 90% of their time indoors, where air quality can routinely be worse than outdoors. Therefore, there is an urgent need to find alternative sustainable, low-energy methods of improving indoor air quality and also the mental wellbeing of the wider population. The addition of indoor plants can provide a sustainable means of improving indoor air quality, and of boosting the psychological well-being of the building’s occupants. However, the impact of indoor plants and the effect of different species on air quality and well-being is poorly understood.

Jennifer’s project uses experiments in controlled chambers, real-world offices and measures people’s psychological responses to investigate the interactions between the plant, the indoor air quality and building occupants. While the controlled chamber experiments saw plants actively reduce the carbon diocese concentrations in the air, the experiments in offices saw no significant impact on this with the introduction of plants. In terms of people’s perceptions of plants and the impact on their well-being, it was the plants which participants found ‘interesting’ which had the most positive effect, as well as the expected green and healthy plants. The findings from Jennifer’s research can now be used to assist designers, architects, building managers and homeowners in choosing plants which have maximum benefit for both the indoor air quality, and occupants’ well-being.

Jennifer will use the Award to help fund a trip to the Eden Project, Kew Gardens and other glasshouses around the country, where she hopes to gain further knowledge about growing different tropical plant species that could be included in further studies.

Bethany Harries – Designing Gardens for Wellbeing

Bethany’s research is based at RHS Wisley’s purposely designed and built wellbeing garden, to understand how garden design can optimise wellbeing outcomes. The garden was designed in collaboration with scientists across a number of disciplines, using different design principles from their expertise to promote wellbeing. It is divided into several zones, with each zone designed to stimulate different senses and evoke emotional reactions through the use of planting, colour, scent and shapes, forms and textures of plants.

The aim of Bethany’s PhD is to test how people respond to different aspects of the garden, to better understand the design aspects that link gardens and wellbeing and develop a blueprint for optimising the design of future wellbeing gardens. Several studies have already been carried out, including to understand how different features such as water, plants and structures can influence emotions and restoration.

Alongside her PhD, Bethany is completing a professional doctorate in Health Psychology, which will allow her to practice as a licensed psychologist and use her horticultural research to help inform her practice. One aim for her is to set up and run a horticultural therapy practice to support young people with chronic conditions and disabilities, and the Award would go some way to help her in purchasing plants and equipment to begin running these sessions.

Photograph credit to Chris Moncrieff

Morgan Millen and Imogen Cavadino

Morgan Millen – Investigating the use of fungal endophytes to induce resistance to honey fungus 

Honey fungus is a major fungal plant pathogen which affects forestry, agriculture and horticulture alike. There are currently no chemical controls available and there is a lack of research on how to achieve environmentally friendly, cost effective and long-lasting protection against it. Morgan’s project explores how fungal endophytes might be able to form protection against diseases caused by honey fungus in a range of plant species.  

Experiments have been carried out to isolate a collection of 42 of these endophytes across 12 species and so far two of these have shown strong potential to prevent disease in strawberry and privet plants. These early results are encouraging to Morgan’s thesis and she will be conducting further experiments across even more species to see if this is a viable option for protecting plants against honey

Imogen Cavadino – Garden Gastropods: using citizen science to understand the diversity, role and impact of slug and snail species in British gardens 

Slugs and snails are notorious horticultural pests and widely detested by gardeners. However, not all species of slug and snail in the UK are pests, many play an important role in breaking down decaying material and recycling nutrients in the soil. Imogen’s project uses citizen science, carried out by enthusiastic gardeners, to understand the diversity of slug and snail species in gardens across the UK and to measure how easy it is for beginners to identify these species. These methods are complemented and evidenced by laboratory work exploring feeding preference to identify whether the species can be called pests. 

Imogen’s project has also challenged perceptions of gardeners and the general public with regard to slugs, educating them of the importance of these species to the garden ecosystem. Her work has made slug identification and recording accessible to all and has expanded previous work to create a new army of slug recorders. Imogen trained 60 members of the public in slug identification and other scientific skills which has generated over 21,000 identifications and will improve the understanding of which slug species are present in UK gardens. Her work has also influenced the Royal Horticultural Society to change their stance and the language they use when talking about slugs in gardens. 

Cindayniah Godfrey and Sophie Reed

Cindayniah Godfrey – Resistance and Susceptibility in Interactions Between Apple and Woolly Aphids 

Cindayniah’s PhD project has two major points of focus that include better understanding the biology of the woolly apple aphid (WAA) in the UK and improving options for WAA-resistant apple rootstock breeding. The project uses a number of different measures and techniques to measure growth and reproduction of WAA to give a baseline indication of how aphid population growth looks in the UK and how populations may form from this.  

The project has found more genetic variation than expected in WAA samples collected mostly from around Kent which may be a result of sexual reproduction, a phenomenon in aphids not yet reported in the UK. Knowing the genetic position of a gene as precisely as possible and utilising genetic markers can aid with apple breeding programmes and can vastly speed up the process allowing for more rapid introduction of apple rootstocks. 

Samples from around the country would really help to give a picture of WAA genetic variation within the UK and would give the potential to see whether there is variation between apple growing regions of the country. Cindayniah would use the Award to fund a short trip to farms which are members of the National Association of Cider Makers to collect WAA samples, which she would expect to show a different pattern of WAA genetic variation than has been collected so far in the project. Not only would this further the scope of her project but it would also strengthen working relationships with industry partners, which will assist with her work in the future.  

Sophie Reed – Towards year-round production of UK strawberries 

Sophie’s PhD project focusses on methods of extending the UK strawberry growing season with the ultimate goal of achieving year-round production in order to reduce the food miles and environmental impacts associated with strawberry production. This involves investigating different factors affecting strawberry plant growth.  

Throughout this project a series of experiments are being carried out to look for these factors separately and in combination, in controlled-environment glasshouses, for a range of strawberry varieties. The overall aim is to find the optimal conditions for strawberry plant development to bring forward the harvest period of high-quality winter grown strawberries. The environmental and economic costs of the glasshouse production will be estimated and then analysed together with the optimal conditions found, in order to develop an optimal economical and environmentally sustainable model for out of season strawberry production. Although this project focuses on strawberry produce, there is potential to use the findings for optimal growth on a wider scale of other fresh produce.  

Sophie would use the Award to fund her attendance at the International Horticultural Congress in France, as an opportunity to learn about the diversity of research supporting the horticultural industry. A key part of the conference will include tours that will provide invaluable experience to see other research facilities and to gain insight into the European commercial horticultural sector. 

Anna Platoni and Andrew Gladman

Anna Platoni

‘Virus-induced changes in plant-insect interactions in the genus Solanum’ 

Anna’s project has an aim to further understand the interactions between plants, insects and plant viruses in order to inform and benefit both amateur gardeners and the horticultural industry. For the first time under field conditions, fieldwork at RHS Garden Wisley was used to test the hypothesis that interactions between plants and associated insects are complex and often mediated by volatile chemicals. Her work has important implications for understanding the co-evaluation of plants, plant viruses and pollinators. This work is being prepared for submission to Nature Plants and has also yielded important insights into the cues that pollinator use in choosing flowers, which is likely to result in techniques to improve pollination efficiency in horticulture.

Anna has been awarded talks at the International Congress of Entomology in Helsinki to present the findings of this project. She has previously been awarded talks and successfully presented her work at the European Congress of Entomology 2018 in Naples and the British Society of Plant Pathology conference 2019 in Bristol. In 2016, Anna was awarded with a highly competitive BBSRC-iCASE studentship for the University of Cambridge to join the laboratory at the Department of Plant Sciences. Within the University of Cambridge, Anna won the 1st year seminar prize and a 3rd year poster commendation and took part in outreach events including the University of Cambridge Science Week and Insect Week at RHS Garden Wisley.

Andrew Karl Gladman

‘Integrating biopesticides and partial host-plant resistance for the management of aphid pests in Brassica crops’

The focus of Andrew’s project is the development of a management strategy to control aphids among crops, whilst growers still aim to reduce their use of pesticides and to find its long-term viability. The hypothesis Andrew is testing is that host plant resistance will reduce aphid population development but may also increase the susceptibility of individuals to infection by increasing the time between moults. Future deployment of this strategy would include sales to professional growers and be extended to amateur gardeners.

Andrew maintains two allotments during his spare time in Leamington Spa, where he is working with Plant Heritage to establish National Collections of the species Kniphofia and Echinops he is growing. Andrew has already made significant breakthroughs in his PhD and upon completion, he wishes to find a role as a botanist to combine his academic experience and training alongside his personal interest. Andrew is helping the UK horticultural science community to push forward with a new way of doing crop protection which will help UK farmers provide fresh produce in ways that do not damage the natural environment. He is also studying for an RHS Level 3 Certificate in the Principles of Plant Growth, Health and Applied Propagation.

Tomos Jones and Jordan Bilsborrow

Tomos Jones

Ornamental plants: a threat to the natural environment due to climate change?

Ornamental plants can be important in supporting native animal diversity, especially in urban areas. However, some plants can escape gardens and become noxious weeds, including the Japanese knotweed and giant hogweed. There is concern that climate change might cause some species that are currently benign to become noxious, and there are already records of this happening in some cases.

In his PhD, Tomos combines species distribution modelling of climatic suitability for ornamental plants with a strong and key element of public survey of gardeners and botanists to gain knowledge from their experiences, linking real evidence to model predications. His results will inform gardeners, the horticultural industry and legislators of which species should be of concern and will help avoid future species invasions. Tomos would use the Award to support his participation in international conferences so that he can present his work.

Jordan Bilsborrow

Towards a reliable and reproducible system for daffodil cultivar identification.

Jordan has been developing a means of identifying daffodil cultivar outside of the growing season, with a success rate of over 80%, and has explored next-generation techniques, such as molecular tools, to allow a 100% success rate. He hopes that his work will develop a toolkit that will allow rapid, reliable and reproducible identification of cultivars at any point during their growth cycle. He has now published the first annotated Narcissus plastome, which gained widespread news coverage and allowed him to connect with more people in the industry.

Jordan eventually wishes to expand his work to other species of plants, and so would use the Award to develop the key skills required for research and develop his personal skills as he looks to work in the field of horticultural taxonomy after his PhD.

Roberto Padovani and Kirstie Hetherington

Roberto Padovani

Roberto’s project is entitled ‘The accumulation of regional diversity during the Anthropocene: insects on introduced plants.’ His research addresses the question as to the impact on native biodiversity arising from the introduction of non-native plants in gardens. In particular, the potential for non-native plants to provide new habitats and niches for both native and non-native insects, and to create new communities as a result. Using the long-term plots at Wisley, as well as the RHS’s extensive database of records of insects on garden plants and other national databases, he is testing whether those non-native plants that have been in Britain for longer have increased insect diversity and whether non-native plants growing with native plants, outside the garden environment, acquire a larger number of insects.

In addition to his research Roberto has promoted his work through presentations at meetings, posters, and blogs as well as actively engaging with the public through outreach events through schools and the University of York. He has also founded a group to encourage the eating of insects as a sustainable alternative.

Kirstie Hetherington

Kirstie’s project is entitled ‘Genotyping and phenotyping of the common pea and its wild relatives’. The pea is a rich source of protein and fixes nitrogen in its roots, so reducing the need for fertiliser. A major achievement of Kirstie’s work is the assembly of the entire pea genome which has been freely released for other researchers to make use of. Using the extensive pea seedbank at the John Innes Centre she has surveyed the genetic diversity of pea varieties and linked the molecular markers to morphological features of the pea varieties. This will be a valuable tool to help conserve crop diversity. She has taken this further to create an image analysis tool to measure plant parts (leaves, seeds and pods) which is available to a wide range of users.

Kirstie’s work underpins conservation of crop diversity and hence our food security, and involves cutting edge science through to public engagement. She has been invited to present on her work at two international meetings which is valuable recognition at her stage in her career. But her heart is in sharing her knowledge with others, particularly in encouraging people to come into science.

Donald Fraser

Donald’s project is entitled ‘A trick of the light: UV-B treatments for potted herbs’. In the project he explores a potential solution to the weak appearance of potted plants which is caused by them competing for limited light. Many plants resort to elongation to combat this problem however this can have detrimental effects to the structure and architecture of the plants eventually.

Donald’s findings demonstrate that this elongation can be suppressed with the addition of UV-B to the light conditions that the plants are growing in. UV-B is a component of direct sunlight and so the plants are able to use the UV-B as a signal that they are growing in direct sunlight and no longer need to elongate to escape the shade. Donald has explored the most effective ways, both for cost and health and safety, that these treatments can be used and his work may also be of interest to ornamental plant growers, as specific light treatments could be used to supplant chemical growth inhibitors.

Visit Cabot Institute Blog for more information on Donald’s work.

Oliver Ellingham and Lauren Edwards

Oliver Ellingham

Oliver’s project is entitled “The development of novel DNA regions for the identification of UK powdery mildews (Ascomysota, Erysiphales)”. He aims to develop an increasingly reliable method for the identification of the 900 powdery mildew species, 150 of which can already be found in British gardens, as currently they are hard to distinguish when simply looked at under a microscope.

Oliver has already been successful in identifying new regions of DNA which have proven to be unique to individual powdery mildew species and will enable future unambiguous identifications. These techniques should prove to be a vital tool for plant quarantine, particularly for greater movement in the plants and plant products via trade within the UK and from overseas.

Oliver writes a blog to keep interested parties up to date with his project and further outreach has included participation in RHS Flower Shows at Chelsea and Hampton Court.

Lauren Edwards

Lauren’s project is entitled “Can we use beneficial microbes to improve sustainable growing media?”. She aims to help reduce peat use in commercial plant production as well as home gardens by improving the quality and consistency of plants grown in non-peat growing media. This is because the unsustainable and destructive nature of peat extraction requires a suitable alternative to be found. While currently, plants grown in non-peat media are often smaller and more varied in size, Lauren hopes to prove that this can be improved by adding beneficial soil fungi.

Lauren has presented the data she has collected so far at the Royal Holloway Postgraduate Symposium and the RHS PhD Symposium, as well as to the Vitacress Herb Company. She has also communicated her ideas to a non-peer audience at Science Open Days at Royal Holloway for prospective students and their parents to see what research goes on in the department.

Maria Christodoulou and Thomas Passey

Maria Christodoulou

Maria has been awarded for her innovative PhD project on the extent to which apple varieties can be identified by their appearance. Using digitalised photographs of fruit, Maria has produced numerical descriptions which allow a computer programme to identify any fruit from the apple cultivars with a high degree of accuracy. The success of Maria’s research will ensure that producers are growing what they think, supermarkets can be sure they have the right variety at the right price and consumer expectations are fulfilled when they buy apples.

Maria’s project also has great implication for horticultural science. The cultivation of particular apple varieties can require special knowledge regarding the right soils to use, the best environment, and how often they produce fruit. This understanding can be derived from the correct cultivar identification and so is essential to the success of the grower, whether at the scale of a commercial orchard or someone planting in their back garden. Maria’s work is highly original, addresses the specific problem of apple cultivar identification, and has the potential to set a trend for wider developments in this field.

Thomas Passey

Tom has been recognised for his project on the population genetics of apple scab, the most important disease in apples worldwide. Annual epidemics of apple scab can cause huge losses to producers who have the added costs of using fungicides to fight the disease.

Tom’s project focuses on the population genetics and epidemiology of apple scab in mixed cultivar orchards. Findings have suggested that mixed orchards are more resistant to apple scab and that this could be a sustainable solution for reducing the prevalence of the disease. Tom’s project assesses which cultivars might make an effective mixed orchard to reduce apple scab by comparing the genetics of populations of scab on different cultivars. He has displayed a range of skills in his research so far, showing great enthusiasm and ambition in his learning.

James Hourston and Michelle Hulin

James Hourston

James Hourston has been awarded for his project which researches natural organisms that can be used as a much-needed new approach to fight vine weevil, a pest which attacks a wide variety of plants and fruits. His project has focused on the presence of naturally occurring mycorrhizal fungi and how this can change how attractive certain plants are to natural pests.

James has applied his research to potted raspberries and has shown that the vine weevil pest performs poorer with particular fungi combinations. Despite the complexity of the system, he has mastered the problems of working with these organisms extremely well and has displayed a remarkable ability to come up with innovative ideas.

Michelle Hulin
Michelle was recognised for her research project on the bacteria plant, Pseudomonas Syringae, which infects over 180 plant species, including many economically valuable crops such as tomato, wheat and bean. Her work focuses on host specificity, an understanding of which has become more important in recent years when emerging diseases have become a major threat to crops and forests worldwide.

Despite decades of research on Pseudomonas Syringae, many questions about host specificity remain. Michelle is currently researching diverse groups of Pseudomonas Syringae and has developed a range of tests and has carried out an enormous amount of high quality work in this area. Her findings could be used to inform management strategies to prevent host jumps and allow the prediction of potential future hosts of important plant pathogens.

Maria Madalena Vaz Monteiro and Rachel Warmington

Maria Madalena Vaz Monteiro

Madalena is a 3rd year PhD student at the University of Reading and has been awarded for her project entitled ‘The role of leaf traits in regulation of canopy temperature and their impact on local energy balance.’ The project focuses on understanding how different plant canopies influence the overall thermal performance of green spaces, such as green roofs. Madalena’s work helps provide a stronger rationale for greater plant choice on green roofs, which are currently dictated purely by ecological forces. She demonstrates that the employment of horticultural factors may significantly improve the ecosystem service provision of the roof.

Madalena has an enthusiastic and proactive approach to her work, uses novel scientific techniques and has developed a concept which has great implications for urban sustainability.

Rachel Warmington

Rachel is a 2nd year PhD student at the University of Warwick and has been recognised for her research project on Sclerotinia disease, which affects a variety of vegetable crops including lettuce, carrots, beans, peas and occasionally potatoes. Rachel’s work identifies potential new soil treatments which could control Sclerotinia disease and investigates the diversity, causes and patterns of the disease in the UK.

Through this project, Rachel has demonstrated her ability to design and carry out experiments which address both fundamental science questions as well as more practical solutions for the industry and crop growers. She has developed novel systems to carry out her assessments and has shown great dedication to her work throughout the process.

Kálmán Könyves and James Cotterill

Kálmán Könyves

Kálmán’s research focuses on the identification of hoop-petticoat daffodils, a highly important horticultural crop in the UK, USA, Australia and New Zealand and throughout European countries, as it is grown in bulk for both the bulb trade and the cut-flower market. With over 30,000 types registered, this is a challenging task and breeding programmes are burdened by a lack of identification tools. Through his research, Kálmán is developing techniques that will offer a rapid and cost-effective way of identifying hoop-petticoat daffodils.

James Cotterill

James is conducting a PhD at the University of Reading on the addition of biochars to composts, emphasising particularly on how this enhances the composting of green waste and influences greenhouse gas production and emissions. His research looks at how composts with biochars can be used in horticulture and farming, and how they can help retain key nutrients that are lost during composting – which would have vast ecological implications as it reduces the need for fertilisers. During a visit to the biochar research programme at Cornell University, James hopes to absorb the latest techniques, approaches and theories developing within this area of research, as well as promote the work of the RHS to a wider range of researchers and improve opportunities for research links with the USA.

Lionel Smith and Dr Rosemary Collier

Lionel Smith

Lionel Smith has been recognised for his novel work on the development of flowering lawns. He is taking a radical look at what is grown in and on lawns, with the eventual aim of providing more colourful, wildlife-friendly and less intensively managed lawns in comparison to the conventional lawn.

Lionel has been studying for a PhD at the University of Reading since 2010 and said: “I am so pleased to receive this award. There was some strong competition I believe so it is good that my work is being recognised like this. I feel that flowering lawns will be an exciting option for gardeners in the future and this award will really help me to develop my research work and spread the word.”

Dr Rosemary Collier

Rosemary Collier has made extensive contributions to the field of Horticulture throughout her career.   Rosemary ‘s main interests are modelling interactions between insects and the environment, the host-plant finding behaviour of phytophagous insects and the development of Integrated Pest Management systems for the pests of field vegetable and bulb crops. Rosemary has developed weather-based forecasts of the timing of attack of several pests of field crops; four of which have been used commercially for a number of years.

Rosemary is a former convenor of the International Organisation for Biological Control Working Group on Integrated Protection of Field Vegetables. She talks regularly to grower groups and writes topical articles for HDC News and similar publications.

Professor Paul Hadley

Paul Hadley has been a leading light in horticultural research and a driving force in ensuring its continuation. During his 33 years at the University of Reading, much of his work has focused on research relating to fruit and vegetable production and his studies have led to the development of mathematical models that have helped growers predict the responses of crops to their environment.

Paul has also been recognised by his contemporaries for his enthusiasm, energy and efforts in horticultural education as well as research. He has managed to maintain the University of Reading as a centre for horticultural education and research, while many other horticultural degrees at other universities have closed, and is now Director of Centre for Horticulture and Landscape within the School of Biological Sciences.

Dr David Astley

David has been Head of the Vegetable Gene Bank since its foundation in 1981, helping the organisation to establish itself as a World Class gene bank. Early in his leadership, David established the high working standards and rigorous protocols for seed storage and regeneration and cataloguing and has maintained them ever since.

David is internationally recognised and highly regarded within the Plant Genetic Resources field and is chair of the European Cooperative Programme’s Vegetable Section, which coordinates European efforts in plant genetic resource coordination. Now semi-retired, he continues to provide advice and mentoring to a new generation of genetic conservation researchers.

Dr Timothy Elliott

Dr Tim Elliott has carried out pioneering studies on the genetics and breeding of the cultivated mushroom. His influential discoveries underpin mushroom strain improvement programmes worldwide and he has developed strategies for breeding, using classical genetic techniques.

David Johnson

David has worked at the Postharvest Research Department at East Malling Research Station since 1972 and became Head of the Department in 1991. He has been active in technology transfer and was the driving force behind the production of Best Practice Guides for apples and pears, including Crop Production, Protection and Storage matter. These guides have been distributed to all top fruit growers and advisors.

In addition, David has been a major contributor to the Quality Fruit Group, advising the industry each year on the appropriate time for harvesting each of the main apple and pear cultivars.

Brian Smith

Brian has done extensive work to develop hybrid leeks, sweet tasting onions and carrots with resistance to carrot fly and cavity spot. Although he worked in a research establishment at the National Vegetable Research Station, his work has always been relevant to the real needs of commercial horticulture and he is greatly respected in the industry.