... biochemical changes to decrease food loss. How do the host onion plant and pathogenic fungus (Fusarium) interact at different stages of development? The resilience of the onion plant to Fusarium is critically related to specific stages in its development. Advanced imaging of the Fusarium-onion interaction at different wavelengths - X-ray, visible and infrared (IR) - from growth through to the postharvest period, combined with an analysis of the onion's nutrients will elucidate the process of virulence. In the proposed study, the biochemical responses of the plant at each developmental stage will be correlated with those of the fungus. Key Objectives: The aim of this project is to decipher the spatial colonisation and pathogenesis of F. oxysporum f. sp. cepae on onions by assessing the physical and biochemical changes that take place during bulb growth in response to the disease. This knowledge is essential for early disease detection, crop health assessment and the establishment of effective cropstorage management strategies to reduce food losses and minimise further disease spread in onion production.

he project aims to optimise chlorine contact tanks for effective virus removal in drinking water treatment processes. The research will focus on evaluating operational parameters and water chemistry impacts on virus disinfection efficacy. Collaboration with Water Utilities will provide practical insights into current disinfection practices and strategies for improvement. The project will enhance the understanding of viral behaviour, inform treatment process enhancements, and support regulatory compliance, ultimately ensuring safer drinking water.

The research to be undertaken by the student for this studentship will substantially contribute to knowledge in the field of energy transitions focussing on the concept of multi-user hydrogen towns. It includes a three-month secondment with our project partner, Cadent Gas. The project supports Cadent Gas in understanding social acceptability as it looks to develop and upgrade its network operations and systems to a new fuel. It will give insights for policymakers on hydrogen transitions linking new technological developments with multiple user acceptability, beyond domestic use. The aim is also to advance the student's own progress as a thoughtful and independent researcher in an exciting and developing field as well as continue to grow the developing hydrogen research work within CESS.

To get to net zero, we need to mitigate emissions of gases that are potentially hazardous, by improving the technology used to detect gas leaks. Gases of interest include methane, a strong greenhouse gas, ammonia, proposed for energy storage and transport as part of the hydrogen economy, and others. To enable safety and minimise environmental emissions, a new generation of gas leak detectors is needed to support this change. This project concerns the development of a prototype optical gas detector for use in "standoff" mode, allowing operators to detect gas leaks from a distance. This technology has the benefit of high sensitivity and specificity to individual gases. The project will involve development of the sensor, incorporating a new generation of high-performance components such as ultra-low-noise photodetectors, performance characterisation and optimisation, and potentially field testing. Opportunities to apply this technology to other gases will also be explored, especially for applications in marine transportation.

Soils are important for the safe, healthy, and sustainable production of food. They help to cycle key nutrients, store carbon, clean water, and host key microbial communities. However, soils around the world are in poor health. For many soils globally, erosion rates exceed the slow rates at which they form, which means that soils are thinning. A large proportion of global agricultural land are characterised by shallow soils (i.e., 30 cm) which threatens food production. This project aims to investigate a potential game-changer to sustain food production on critically shallow soils. It will examine the capacity for crop roots to penetrate through, and mine nutrients from, soil parent materials. These are the resources underlying soil profiles, and from which soil is continuously formed (e.g., bedrock, river sediments, glacial deposits, wind-blown dust). Exciting research across the plant and soil sciences has demonstrated that some plant species have developed strategies to penetrate soil parent materials. In desert environments, for instance, plant can grow deep into parent materials to access vital deep-water reserves. However, we still don't have good understanding about the root traits and mechanisms which may allow agricultural crop roots to penetrate and mine the soil parent materials in shallow soil contexts. Likewise, we don't understand how the biological, chemical, and physical properties of different parent materials may promote or hinder root development. This studentship will make a significant contribution to our knowledge of both root- and soil-based mechanisms which govern root penetration through soil parent material. There are four key objectives in this project, combining literature synthesis, fieldwork, and laboratory experiments. In Objective 1, the student will assess the current state of knowledge about the soil- and root-based mechanisms promoting root growth through soil parent materials. In Objective 2, the student will obtain in-tact cores of different soils and soil parent materials across the UK, and will analyse how the biological, physical, and chemical properties change across the soil-parent material boundary. In Objective 3, the student will setup a laboratory experiment by growing a range of different food crops in cores packed with soils and different parent materials. A micro-dialysis probe will be installed into the cores to collect porewater adjacent to the root tips. The chemistry of this porewater will be used to assess how rhizosphere processes (those immediately surrounding the roots) responds as the root crosses the interface between soils and parent materials. The fourth objective represents one of the most exciting aspects of this studentship. The student will have an unique opportunity to conduct an experiment using X-ray CT scanning. Over the past decade, this technique has transformed our ability to non-destructively observe root growth through soils at impressive space and time scales. Based at the Diamond Light Source facility, the student will grow different food crops in columns packed with soils and parent materials, and these will be imaged using CT scanning to produce time-lapse 3D images of root development. Analyses of the 3D images will be used to highlight where and how roots grow through parent materials. The scientific advances coming out of this project are likely to have far-reaching impacts across the agri-food sector. For example, being able to optimize crop species decisions based on the ability for roots to grow through the underlying parent material will help farmers to sustain yields, enhance crop health, as well as to address intensifying pressures to combat food security issues, and mitigate the damaging effects of global soil degradation. Throughout the project, the student will receive unparalleled opportunities to network with, and showcase their research to, leading companies within the UK's agrifood sector including ADAS, Syngenta, and Agrii.