Meet our Lord Selborne Scholar in Nutrition
Nutrition
We are delighted to introduce our first Lord Selborne Scholar in Nutrition, Oli Lindsay. Oli has just begun his PhD at the University of Sheffield, under the supervision of bioscientist Professor Katie Field. Katie is no stranger to Rank Prize, having won one of our New Lecturer grants back in 2016, so it’s wonderful to see her supporting the next generation of the Rank Prize community.
Oli will be working on a project called “Optimising diverse wheat-fungal symbioses for enhanced nutrition and sustainability”. The project will explore how different types of beneficial soil fungi help wheat take up nutrients and grow better, especially under changing environmental conditions. It will focus on a lesser-known group of symbiotic fungi called Mucoromycotina fine root endophytes, which may offer advantages over the more widely studied arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.
Oli will be testing how various wheat varieties interact with these fungi and investigate whether certain fungal-crop partnerships can boost crop yield and nutrition while reducing the need for chemical fertilisers, thereby promoting sustainability in crop production.
I applied for the Lord Selborne scholarship as I’m fascinated by the fungal-plant symbiosis and believe strongly in nature-based solutions to reduce our impact on the environment, especially around such an important industry as agriculture.
I feel privileged to have been given this opportunity.
Oli Lindsay, Lord Selborne Scholar in Nutrition, University of Sheffield
The Lord Selborne PhD Scholarship, named after our former Chairman, encourages the next generation of researchers in nutrition and vision science.
