Thursday, 19 March 2026
A transformative national research infrastructure, underpinned by work led from the University of Nottingham is set to reshape the future of plant and crop research and innovation across the UK.
PhenomUK, announced today, is a £35.4M, six-year project funded through the UKRI Infrastructure Fund and led by BBSRC.
It builds on the successful UK Plant and Crop Phenotyping Infrastructure Preliminary Activity and PhenomUK Technology Touching Life network, both multidisciplinary endeavours spanning Nottingham’s Schools of Computer Science (Professor Tony Pridmore, Ms Claire Hayes, Dr Valerio Giuffrida) and Biosciences (Dr Darren Wells), the Universities of Sheffield, Essex, Edinburgh and Manchester and Rothamsted Research.
I’m delighted about the funding for the next stage of this vital work. It’s been a long road to reach this point but both the phenomics community and the University have supported PhenomUK from the beginning. It’s great that we can now work directly to establish a true nationwide research infrastructure for plant phenomics.
PhenomUK will accelerate the development of new plant and crop varieties securing the UK’s long term food supply by ensuring they are resilient to:
- Changing climate
- Biodiversity loss
- Invasive non-native species.
The investment will establish a national research and innovation infrastructure spanning crop growth stages from seed to field, boosting our ability to measure the performance of new varieties in realistic environments and at scale.
Invasive non-native species cost the British economy approximately £1.9 billion per year in direct impacts, with extreme weather costing UK farmers over £1 billion in arable crop income annually.
Crop improvement programmes require detailed understanding of plant development and behaviour in varied and rapidly changing growth environments.
Research enabled by PhenomUK will drive advances in national food production and reduce pesticide use.
The project aligns with the Government’s ambition to position the UK as a global leader in the plant and crop breeding market.
This will accelerate the application of precision breeding using Engineering Biology to create deployable agricultural solutions.
Story credits
More information is available from Jane Icke, Media Relations Manager for the Faculty of Science at the University of Nottingham jane.icke@nottingham.ac.uk
Notes to editors:
About the University of Nottingham
Ranked 97 in the world and 17th in the UK by the QS World University Rankings, the University of Nottingham is a founding member of Russell Group of research-intensive universities. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience, and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our students. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement.
Nottingham was crowned Sports University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024 – the third time it has been given the honour since 2018 – and by the Daily Mail University Guide 2024.
The university is among the best universities in the UK for the strength of our research, positioned seventh for research power in the UK according to REF 2021. The birthplace of discoveries such as MRI and ibuprofen, our innovations transform lives and tackle global problems such as sustainable food supplies, ending modern slavery, developing greener transport, and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
The university is a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally - and our graduates are the third most targeted by the UK's top employers, according to The Graduate Market in 2024 report by High Fliers Research. Alongside Nottingham Trent University, we lead the Universities for Nottingham initiative, a pioneering collaboration between the city’s two world-class institutions to improve levels of prosperity, opportunity, sustainability, health and wellbeing for residents in the city and region we are proud to call home. More news…