Dr Manoj Menon and Dr Stuart Casson are editors of a special issue on water use efficiency (WUE). They both supervise Grantham Scholars, and met during their work on one of our projects.
Plant trait selection for increased water use efficiency is expected to shift ecosystem demographics in forest and grassland systems, while novel agronomic systems, engineering and biotechnological/genetic advances will be required for increasing crop WUE to sustain and increase production.
As such, this special issue will focus broadly on our current understanding and characterization of WUE, evidence for changing WUE in response to abiotic (or biotic) drivers (e.g., trait selection, phenotypic plasticity) and novel management and molecular biology approaches.
This special issue came about from a collaboration between between Dr Menon and Casson through a Grantham PhD project with Grantham Scholar Dr Tinashe Mawodza. Tinashe is now a Research Fellow at University of Nottingham. At the Grantham Centre his project examined plants engineered to use water efficiently and the impact this has on roots.
We have a number of experts and researchers who specialise in water and sustainability. Find out more about them and how they work towards SDG6 Clean Water and Sanitation.
Grantham Scholar Martin Appleby wrote a blog about water use in the UK. Read: How much water does the UK use?
Water and sustainability expert Professor Vanessa Speight sits on our management board. She is also supervises a number of Grantham Scholars. At our Annual Symposium 2020 she spoke about how during the pandemic she was using sewage to map infection.
Also speaking about water and SDG6 at our Annual Symposium in 2020 was Naomi Oates. She has written a series of blogs about her fieldwork in Malawi. Her work looks at the entangling of everyday lives, water and politics.
Manoj and Stuart started collaborating through their work with Grantham Scholar Tinashe Mawodza. And Manoj supervises quite a few of our Grantham Scholars.
Manoj also supervises Jennifer Veenstra. Her work is on the factors that influence European farmers in their decision-making about no tillage adoption. Jenny is one of many of our experts who works on soil.
Our Marta Crispo researches the ability of willow to remediate contaminated urban soil. And she’s also a Climate Commissioner.
Grantham Scholar Dr Fiona Graham is now a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Newcastle University. At the Grantham Centre she explored how university staff and students could be encouraged to embrace sustainable food choices within a cafeteria setting.
Finally, Dr James Thackery is now at the Department for International Trade. At the Grantham Centre James investigated genetics and seed size. You can find out more on his project page.