Success for the UK rice research community
Nutrition
We’re pleased to share the news that researchers at the University of Nottingham have been awarded funds from the BBSRC (Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council) to establish the OryzaNet network (PI Professor Erik Murchie).
OryzaNet, which will run from 2026 to 2029, will be the first funded networking intiative for rice research in the UK. Rice is often termed the world’s most essential crop and carries particular importance for global food security. The UK does not cultivate the rice crop but it delivers an impressive amount of rice research which impacts on fundamental science, genetics, nutrition, and social science. The aim of the network is to foster collaborations and sustainably build the rice research community.
OryzaNet has emerged from the success of the UKRRC (UK Rice Research Consortium) which was formed as a ‘grassroots’ movement in 2018 to bring together the different research groups working on rice in the UK and provide collective strategic direction. At Rank Prize we are proud to have provided early ‘seed’ funding to the UKRRC through our Nutrition Committee Forum grant which supported four Early-Career Researcher workshops between 2018 and 2022; see this previous news feature.
Early-Career Researchers (ECRs) remain crucial to OryzaNet. The network will offer training in strategy and technique development to help future-proof the community.
Congratulations to everyone involved and we look forward to seeing how OryzaNet develops.
