Tuesday, 22 July 2025
Researchers from the University of Nottingham have been awarded funding to further explore heat tolerance and resilience in rice, helping towards the development of drought/heat resistant crops.
The Academy of Medical Sciences Networking Grants and Network Strengthening Grants are designed to accelerate research networks across borders at a time when international cooperation is increasingly recognised as essential for tackling shared global challenges. These grants are connecting UK researchers with scientists across more than 30 countries.
This year, the programme includes 54 Networking Grants providing up to £25,000 over one year for seed funding to forge new international connections, plus 10 Networking Strengthening Grants to expand existing promising collaborations. Each partnership must be co-led by a UK researcher alongside a counterpart in either a developed nation or a country eligible for Official Development Assistance.
UK lead researcher Dr Ranjan Swarup from the School of Biosciences at the University of Nottingham has previously been awarded a networking grant with partners in UK, India, Philippines, China and Vietnam. Dr Swarup has now been awarded a £200k Network Strengthening Grant in partnership with Dr Amelia Henry, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Manila, Philippines to further build on his root trait research.
Dr Swarup said: “Rice is produced across six continents and provides food to ~50% (~3 billion people) of the world’s population. Recent changes in climatic conditions notably extreme drought and high temperature are major constraints across rice-producing areas. This poses a serious problem for resource-poor farmers who depend on rainfall for cultivation. Therefore, there is pressing need for developing climate-ready resilient rice varieties for meeting future food demands."
Developing these varieties will not only lead to improved nutritional, financial and social stability but will also encourage expansion of rice cultivation and thus providing additional sources of work and income to the rural poor, boosting local economy and directly contributing to poverty alleviation.
Global Food Security is one of the major challenges facing world agriculture. This is against the backdrop of global warming and climate unpredictability. Crop production is especially vulnerable to extremes of environmental stress (drought/heat) leading to significant losses in yield and quality. To meet the future food demand, there is an urgent need to develop diverse, climate-ready and resilient agricultural systems.
Root traits determine the plant’s capacity to capture nutrients and water and therefore directly influence crop productivity. This funding will allow the research team to test the heat tolerance/resilience of rice lines already selected for drought resilience through previous research and combines innovative multi-disciplinary approaches that are likely to provide novel genes for translation into crop breeding programme.
As part of the research the team will simulate future climate projections including heat and drought treatments and run field trials in IRRI, Philippines and control environment studies in Nottingham. The team will also examine the root architectural and anatomical traits using state of the art facilities in the Hounsfield Facility at the University of Nottingham, including X-Ray CT and Laser Ablation tomography.
Delivered in partnership with the British Academy, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society, and supported by the UK Government’s International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF), these grants are designed to spark bold, cross-border collaborations that take on some of today’s most pressing scientific and societal challenges.
The funded projects span disciplines from public health and clinical medicine to engineering, agricultural sciences and humanities. Together, they connect UK-based scientists with peers in universities, public health institutes and innovation hubs worldwide.
Professor Tom Solomon CBE FMedSci, Vice President (International), Academy of Medical Sciences, said: “International collaboration isn’t just beneficial for science – it’s absolutely essential. The health challenges we face today, from antimicrobial resistance to pandemic preparedness, don’t recognise national borders, and neither can our response to them. The partnerships funded by the Academy’s networking grants represent our commitment to ensuring that UK researchers remain not just connected to global networks but actively shaping them."
By investing in these relationships now, we’re building the research infrastructure that will be vital for addressing tomorrow’s health crises. The UK has always been strongest when it leads through collaboration, and these grants help ensure UK researchers remain influential and connected on the international stage.
Story credits
More information is available from Dr Ranjan Swarup on ranjan.swarup@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.
We lead the Universities for Nottingham initiative, in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, 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…