Fellowship for world-leading biologist to feed the world

A world-leading plant biologist has been awarded a prestigious research fellowship to boost her vital work in helping to feed the world.

Professor Tracy Lawson, the director of the Essex Plant Innovation Centre at the University of Essex, has won a Royal Society Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowship.

The award and funding mean Professor Lawson – who has been named as one of the globe’s most influential scientists as part of the Clarivate world highest cited list for the past three years – can explore how to improve photosynthesis and water efficiency to support sustainable food as the world population booms.

Over the course of a year, she will explore how to boost photosynthesis, the process in which plants use sunlight to produce energy, in wheat.

Rather than looking at leaves, where the majority of research previously focused, Professor Lawson will investigate the grain-bearing ears of the plant

It is hoped this will help the staple crop to thrive in harsher conditions and cope with droughts.

This builds on Professor Lawson's, and her colleagues in the School of Life Sciences, influential and inspiring work to ensure food security and protect crops amid unprecedented pressures sparked by climate change.

Professor Lawson said: “I am delighted and honoured to have been awarded this prestigious fellowship, and I really am looking forward to getting back in the laboratory and doing some experimental work.

“Photosynthesis and water use has been mostly neglected in ears and other non-foliar tissue, with most research focusing on leaves.

“As part of this research programme, we will design a new chamber to measure photosynthetic CO2 uptake and water loss in these organs, which will provide vital information on whole plant gas exchange.”