Food Security at the Heart of New University and Waitrose Training

30 Nov 2016 --- High-end British grocer Waitrose has teamed up with the University of Warwick for new combined training in academic development, industry, agricultural and sustainable crop production.

The partnership – part of a £18.9M Collaborative Training Partnerships (CTP) award – will allow early-career scientists to acquire business skills, marrying their technical expertise with experience of solving real-world problems in the fresh produce industry.

This puts food security at the heart of the new doctoral training, and gives PhD students more employment opportunities in an increasingly competitive job market, according to Warwick University, but will ensure that they effect change with their academic knowledge, and contribute to ensuring future global food security.

Estimates put the global population at nine billion by 2050, prompting the UK Agri-Tech strategy to call for new methods, systems and technologies to be adopted to help UK agriculture increase production sustainably.

The PhD projects that the students undertake will be in the areas of sustainable crop production, sustainable soil and water, and biodiversity and ecosystem services in agriculture. Projects will make full use of the extensive facilities at the University’s Innovation Campus at Wellesbourne, which has 190 hectares of research land and state-of-the art laboratories for academia and business to work alongside each other.

“This exciting new program is an excellent opportunity for us all to work collaboratively with the Waitrose Agronomy Group and Waitrose suppliers in developing a cohort of graduate students who will make a difference to the fresh produce supply chain through their PhD research and who are capable of becoming future leaders in science, policy and business,” says director of Warwick’s Crop Centre in the School of Life Sciences, Dr Rosemary Collier.

The collaboration also includes Lancaster University, the University of Reading, and Rothamsted Research.

“Waitrose is delighted to have been appointed a lead organization for BBSRC's 2016 industry-led collaborative training partnerships program. This is a really exciting development and supports our proven collaborative approach led by the Waitrose Agronomy Group, involving academic engagement, worldwide farm assessment and a postgraduate professional training program."

“Our evidence shows that there is a clear need to provide new thinking to address the challenges involved in delivering a more secure and sustainable food system. This funding will accelerate the contribution that Lancaster, Reading and Warwick Universities can make along with Rothamsted Research, working with our supply base to enhance resilience and sustainability in our food supply chains,” adds Alan Wilson, the Technical Manager for Agronomy at Waitrose.

The first students will be recruited to the program in October 2017.