Undergraduate Vacation Bursary – Funded Projects in 2026
LINKS: Main Student Information 2026 | Project Descriptions
Below is the list of projects being offered. Click on the link at the bottom of the page for the full description of all projects.
Title of Project: Characterisation of the virulence profile of Fusarium spp. causing foot and root rot in Vicia faba in the UK
Project supervisor: Dr Anne Webb
Institute: NIAB, UK
Title of Project: Defending the Breach: Mechanisms Restricting Bacterial Entry at Plant Wound Sites
Project supervisor: Dr Pierre Buscaill
Institute: University of Bristol, UK
Title of Project: Comparing the pathogenicity of Colletotrichum isolates causing terminal crook disease of radiata pine in New Zealand
Project supervisor: Dr Stuart Fraser
Institute: New Zealand Institute for Bioeconomy Science, New Zealand
Title of Project: Analysis of fructan biosynthesis mutant lines in hexaploid wheat to develop new resources for reducing Fusarium head blight susceptibility
Project supervisor: Dr Wanxin Chen
Institute: Rothamsted Research, UK
Title of Project: Comparison of Take-All types infecting modern and historical wheat varieties
Project supervisor: Dr Kim Hammond-Kosack
Institute: Rothamsted Research, UK
Title of Project: Developing and commercializing a novel bacteriocin-based prophylactic treatment for Potato Blackleg Disease and Soft-Rot
Project supervisor: Dr Katherine Baxter
Institute: University of Glasgow, School of Molecular Biosciences, UK
Title of Project: Functional characterisation of candidate Meloidogyne enterolobii effectors
Project supervisor: Dr Lida Derevnina
Institute: University of Cambridge, Crop Science Centre, UK
Title of Project: Apoplastic protease inhibition by Pseudomonas syringae effectors
Project supervisor: Dr Victoria Armer
Institute: University of Oxford, UK
Title of Project: Assessing the impact of gene deletion of candidate effector proteins on the virulence of Fusarium graminearum
Project supervisor: Jade Smith
Institute: Rothamsted Research, UK
Title of Project: Roots Under Pressure: Understanding UK Root-Knot Nematodes in crops and cover crops
Project supervisor: Dr Chris Bell
Institute: University of Leeds, UK
Title of Project: From Artificial Intelligence to Plant Immunity: Designing Novel Proteins to Fight Crop Pathogens
Project supervisor: Prof. Jie Huang
Institute: Sichuan University, China
Title of Project: Novel insights into the growth-defence trade-off at the root-soil continuum
Project supervisor: Dr Davide Bulgarelli
Institute: University of Dundee at the James Hutton Institute, UK
Title of Project: Can a bacteriocin-based treatment reduce blackleg symptoms?
Project supervisor: Dr Ashleigh Holmes
Institute: The James Hutton Institute, UK
Title of Project: Effect of biochar on root exudates in strawberry plant infected with Botrytis sp.
Project supervisor: Dr Christina Supramaniam
Institute: University of Greenwich, UK
Title of Project: Evolutionary and mechanistic consequences of domain integration on plant immune receptors
Project supervisor: Dr Mauricio Contreras
Institute: Center for Plant Molecular Biology (ZMBP), Universität Tübingen, Germany
Click here for full project details
