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Plants for the Future Research Network

Applied and fundamental research and engagement on how plants develop, reproduce, and interact with a changing environment.

We are an active research community of over twenty academics, fellows, early career researchers and students with shared interests in plants and their roles in our everyday lives.

Plants are essential to our ecosystem, providing us with food and feed security as well as many other essential resources such as building materials, fibres and pharmaceuticals. With a growing world population and changing climate, it is increasingly urgent to understand the genes that regulate plant development and determine their architecture, as these are the mechanisms that control their reproduction, how they communicate with their environment and respond to stress.

Aims

We aim to bring together research on plant biology in Cardiff to encompass the whole range of scales from cell division to ecosystems, sharing expertise from emerging molecular, physiological and biochemical techniques to modelling.

We have attracted millions in funding from research councils, industry and charities for research on a range of topics from fundamental cell biology to crop resilience, post-harvest stress and novel approaches for producing high value natural products in sub-Saharan Africa.

Our research is supported by a dedicated Plant Growth Technology Hub and is organised into ten groups led by:

We welcome approaches from potential fellowship candidates and funded PhD students to host their research and expand our essential research on plants.

We carry out research on:

  • developmental regulation of plant meristems using Arabidopsis and modelling growth patterns
  • gene regulation of leaf and flower senescence and stress responses
  • communication between pollen and pistil during plant reproduction
  • how plant lipids are synthesized and factors regulating their formation
  • how plants interact with their environment, with a focus on reproductive fitness
  • changes in gene expression and volatile organic compounds during post-harvest senescence
  • use of aromatic species against insect vectors of human disease
  • understanding how algae can be used to improve nutrition and as biofuels
  • epigenetic regulation of gene expression in development.

Our projects include:

Lead researcher

Professor Hilary Rogers

Professor Hilary Rogers

Professor

Email
rogershj@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone
+44 (0)29 2087 6352

Academic staff

Dr Chris Berry

Dr Chris Berry

Senior Lecturer

Email
berrycm@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone
+44 (0)29 2087 6971
Dr Walter Dewitte

Dr Walter Dewitte

Senior Lecturer

Email
dewittew@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone
+44 (0)29 2087 4190
Professor Dianne Edwards

Professor Dianne Edwards

Research Professor

Email
edwardsd2@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone
+44 (0)29 2087 4264
Dr Barend HJ de Graaf

Dr Barend HJ de Graaf

Lecturer

Email
degraafb@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone
+44 (0)29 2087 4766
Dr Veronica Grieneisen

Dr Veronica Grieneisen

Reader

Email
grieneisenv@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone
+44 (0)29 2087 6898
Professor John Harwood

Professor John Harwood

Professor

Email
harwood@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone
+44 (0)29 2087 4108
Dr Angharad Jones

Dr Angharad Jones

Lecturer

Email
jonesar14@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone
+44 (0)29 2087 9396
Dr Tamara Lechón Gómez

Dr Tamara Lechón Gómez

Lecturer in Plant Biology

Email
lechongomezt@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone
+44 (0)29 2251 4679
Professor Stan Marée

Professor Stan Marée

Professor

Email
marees@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone
+44 (0)29 2087 4486
Professor Jim Murray

Professor Jim Murray

Professor

Email
murrayja1@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone
+44 (0)29 2087 6676
Dr Carsten Müller

Dr Carsten Müller

Reader, Postgraduate Divisional Tutor

Email
mullerct@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone
+44 (0)29 2087 5263
Professor John Pickett

Professor John Pickett

Professor of Biological Chemistry

Email
pickettj4@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone
+44 (0)29 2251 0838
Dr Julia Sanchez Vilas

Dr Julia Sanchez Vilas

Lecturer

Email
sanchezvilasj@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone
+44 (0)29 2087 4302
Dr Simon Scofield

Dr Simon Scofield

Senior Lecturer

Email
scofields@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone
+44 (0)29 2087 4918

Postgraduate students

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Lama Alotaibi

Research student

Email
alotaibilm@cardiff.ac.uk
No profile image

Ashley Baldwin

Research student

Email
baldwina@cardiff.ac.uk
No profile image

Ryan Coates

Research student

Email
coatesrj@cardiff.ac.uk
alt

Amy Wyatt

Research student

Email
wyatta@cardiff.ac.uk

Associated staff

Dr Sarah Christofides

Dr Sarah Christofides

Lecturer - Bioinformatics

Email
christofidess@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone
+44 (0)29 2087 6201
Dr Richard Ludlow

Dr Richard Ludlow

Technology Hub Lead

Email
ludlowra@cardiff.ac.uk
Sam Vaughan

Sam Vaughan

Senior Horticultural Technician

Email
vaughans10@cardiff.ac.uk