Student spotlight: 2025 Undergrad Vacation grants in Nutrition

This summer, students on our popular Undergrad Vacation grant scheme worked on a range of exciting projects in human nutrition and plant science across the UK.

In these videos, Rahimah, Rachel, Dylan and Emily present their projects and tell us what they learnt – both about their topic and what it’s like to work in research. They also reveal whether or not they would recommend the Rank Prize Undergrad Vacation grant to other students and supervisors (spoiler: they all say yes!).

Watch the videos below to find out more.

Rahimah Kaleem, University of Leeds: Inclusion in dietary assessment. An Academic-Third Sector partnership approach to collaboratively explore challenges and future solutions which can improve the accuracy of assessing dietary intakes of people from different ethnic backgrounds.

Supervisors: Dr Sally Moore and Dr Tanefa Apekey, University of Leeds

Rachel Nash, University of Leeds: Unveiling genetic and physiological factors influencing zinc accumulation and distribution in wheat grain.

Supervisor: Dr Petros Sigalas and Dr. Malcolm Hawkesford, Rothamsted Research

Dylan Rees, Durham University: Understanding and improving Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Symbiosis through fungal effector studies.

Supervisor: Dr Sebastian Schornack, University of Cambridge

Emily Smith, University of Cambridge: Unlocking recombination in crops.

Supervisor: Professor Ian Henderson, University of Cambridge