Join Us

Join our team and help us address some of the biggest challenges in food security. Our current vacancies are as follows:

Academic

We are not advertising any academic vacancies at this time.

Studentships

We are not advertising any PhD opportunities at this time.

To informally discuss any of the vacancies and possible future recruitment opportunities please contact us at p3@sheffield.ac.uk.

Project leaders

Professor Jurriaan Ton

  • Professor and ERC Research Fellow
  • Molecular signalling and (epi)genetic basis of priming of plant immunity
  • Ecological impacts and agricultural potential of induced resistance in plants
  • Chemical interactions between plants, microbes, and insects

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Professor Duncan Cameron

  • Professor and Royal Society University Research Fellow
  • Mircrobes in sustainable agro-ecosystems
  • Soils and beneficial microbes
  • Biological chemistry

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Non-academic staff

Timo Blake

  • Controlled Environment and Facilities Manager

Jesamine Hughes

  • Administrative Assistant (Research Support)
  • Jes provides administrative support to the P3 team and assists with knowledge exchange activities and events.

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Greg Oldfield

  • Head of Public Engagement
  • Leads the University of Sheffield Public Engagement and Impact team and supports P3 in related activities.

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Dr Mel Bradford

  • Research Development Manager
  • A member of the University of Sheffield Research Strategy Team.

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Dr Megan Lewis

  • P3 Business Development Manager
  • Meg connects academics with external partners to build collaborations with wide-reaching impact.

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Dale Bavastock

  • P3 Senior Horticultural Research Technician

Research staff

Climate Change

Dr Andrew Beckerman

  • Scaling from behaviour to population dynamics
  • Dynamical consequences of predation risk
  • Food webs and foraging ecology

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Dr David Edwards

  • Impacts of tropical land-use change on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning
  • Sustainability of logging and agriculture in the tropics
  • Cost-effective conservation within the tropics
  • Interaction of climate and land-use changes on extinction risk

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Dr Gareth Phoenix

  • Impacts of climate change on Arctic plants and ecosystems
  • Plant nutrient acquisition and impacts on carbon and nutrient cycling
  • Nitrogen deposition impacts on ecosystem structure and function

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Dr Janice Lake

  • Plant Physiology and Climate change
  • Climate change mitigation: Carbon Capture and Storage
  • Remediation of industrial land – biomass production

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Dr Karl Evans

  • Agricultural intensification
  • Climate change
  • Clutch size variation
  • Human population density and its relationship with biodiversity patterns
  • Introduced species
  • Species-energy relationships
  • Urbanisation

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Dr Tom Webb

  • Macroecology of marine systems Ecological applications of novel statistical techniques
  • Detecting the human footprint on large-scale ecological patterns
  • Ecological applications of novel statistical techniques

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Professor Charles Wellman

  • Ecophysiology of the earliest land plants
  • Environmental change associated with the origin of land plants and complex terrestrial ecosystems
  • Using spore wall chemistry as a paleo-proxy for terrestrial solar UV-B levels

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Professor David Beerling FRS

  • Mechanisms of climate change in Earth history
  • Biotic evolution and extinction
  • Earth systems science

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Professor Hamish Cunningham

  • Research Chair in Computer Science
  • Open source electronics for monitoring and control of soil-free agriculture
  • Aquaponics for sustainable cultivation and resilient communities

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Professor Jonathan Leake

  • Carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycling by mycorrhizas
  • Nitrogen pollution effects on grassland soils and vegetation
  • Functional interactions between symbiotic fungi and other organisms

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Professor Lorraine Maltby

  • Freshwater ecotoxicology
  • Adaptation and acclimation to stress
  • Community structure and ecosystem functioning in streams

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Professor Philip Grime

  • Long-term field manipulations of climate at the Buxton Laboratory
  • Analysis of the Bibury Record of year to year variation in vegetation
  • Experimental studies of plant invasion

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Professor Philip Warren

  • The structure and dynamics of food webs; in particular ecological and evolutionary mechanisms determining network structures
  • Community assembly dynamics: the roles of invasion and extinction as drivers of community change
  • Determinants of species richness within and between communities, and effects of species richness on community function

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Professor Terry Callaghan

  • Mechanisms of survival and adaptation in plants to arctic environments
  • Effect of enhanced UV-B radiation on arctic plant communities
  • Climate change impacts on organisms and ecosystems
  • Effect of CO2 concentrations on organisms and ecosystems

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Soil and Soil Biology

Dr Donatella Zona

  • Functioning of a variety of natural and managed ecosystems.
  • Patterns and controls on non-CO2 gasses such as O3, CH4, N2O fluxes.
  • Impact of climate change on biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and greenhouse gas emission in the Arctic.
  • Mechanisms allowing tundra ecosystems to adjust or avoid environmental stress.

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Dr Ellie Harrison

  • Evolutionary and ecological feedbacks within microbial communities
  • Mobile genetic elements and horizontal gene transfer
  • The impact of rapid evolution on soil ecosystems and plant health

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Dr Gareth Phoenix

  • Impacts of climate change on Arctic plants and ecosystems
  • Plant nutrient acquisition and impacts on carbon and nutrient cycling
  • Nitrogen deposition impacts on ecosystem structure and function

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Dr Stephen Rolfe

  • Imaging plant function
  • The molecular biology of plant pathogen and symbiotic interactions
  • Plant responses to abiotic stress

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Professor David Read

  • Mobilisation of nutrients by ectomycorrhizal fungi
  • Effects of mycorrhizas on interspecific competition in plants
  • Effect of nitrogen deposition on soil processes and mycorrhizas

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Professor Duncan Cameron

  • Professor and Royal Society University Research Fellow
  • Mircrobes in sustainable agro-ecosystems
  • Soils and beneficial microbes
  • Biological chemistry

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Professor Jonathan Leake

  • Carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycling by mycorrhizas
  • Nitrogen pollution effects on grassland soils and vegetation
  • Functional interactions between symbiotic fungi and other organisms

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Professor Tim Daniell

  • Arbuscular mycorrhizal ecology
  • Microbial nitrogen cycling
  • Free-living nematode dynamics

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Pests, Diseases and Weeds

Dr Ben Webster

  • Identification of semiochemicals mediating insect-host interactions
  • Context-dependent effects of volatile cues on insect behaviour
  • Volatiles mediating muli-trophic interactions between plants, herbivores and their natural enemies
  • Host-switching and phenotypic plasticity in aphids
  • Volatile-mediated plant-plant communication

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Dr Dylan Childs

  • Life history theory
  • Structured population modelling
  • Host-parasite dynamics

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Dr Estrella Luna-Diez

  • Optimization of the induce resistance response to serve as an alternative to pesticide use
  • Emerging and re-emerging crop diseases
  • Genetic variation in the induced resistance response in crops

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Dr Patrik Nosil

  • Mechanisms of species formation
  • Genome evolution
  • Eco-evolutionary dynamics

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Dr Stephen Rolfe

  • Imaging plant function
  • The molecular biology of plant pathogen and symbiotic interactions
  • Plant responses to abiotic stress

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Dr Stuart Campbell

  • Adaptive evolution in plant populations
  • Plant-animal interactions
  • Chemical ecology of plant defence
  • Plant reproduction

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Professor Jonathan Leake

  • Carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycling by mycorrhizas
  • Nitrogen pollution effects on grassland soils and vegetation
  • Functional interactions between symbiotic fungi and other organisms

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Professor Julie Gray

  • Antisene gene expression to produce transgenic plants with targeted mutations
  • Understanding mechanisms of plant cell signalling and intracellular communication

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Professor Julie Scholes

  • Molecular plant-symbiont interactions including angiosperm parasites (Striga and Orobanche), fungal pathogens and mycorrhizas
  • Bio-imaging: in vivo imaging of plant and fungal gene expression
  • Molecular microbial ecology of polluted aquifers
  • The role of biotic factors in the survival of tropical rainforest seedlings

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Professor Jurriaan Ton

  • Professor and ERC Research Fellow
  • Molecular signalling and (epi)genetic basis of priming of plant immunity
  • Ecological impacts and agricultural potential of induced resistance in plants
  • Chemical interactions between plants, microbes, and insects

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Professor Michael-Siva Jothy

  • Ecological immunity
  • Sexual conflict
  • Reproductive immunity

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Professor Rob Freckleton

  • Population modelling
  • Large scale ecology
  • Comparative analysis and evolutionary ecology

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Professor Roger Butlin

  • Speciation
  • The paradox of sex
  • Evolution at range margins

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Photosynthesis and Development

Dr Matt Johnson

  • Leverhulme Trust Research Fellow
  • Investigating the structure, function and dynamics of photosynthetic membranes
  • Determining the molecular basis of how plants respond and adapt to changing environmental conditions

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Dr Pascal-Antoine Christin

  • Evolution of C4 photosynthesis
  • Functional diversification of plants
  • Comparative genomics

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Dr Stuart Casson

  • The mechanisms that regulate plant development
  • Studying the biochemistry and enzymology of pigment biosynthesis

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Emeritus Professor Peter Horton FRS

  • Interdisciplinary approaches to sustainable food security
  • Understanding photoprotection in plants
  • Increasing crop yield by optimisation of photosynthesis
  • Analysis of agri-food ecosystems

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Professor Andrew Fleming

  • The molecular mechanism of plant morphogenesis
  • Leaf form and function
  • Developmental physiology and biochemistry

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Professor Colin Osborne

  • Evolution of C4 photosynthesis and its ecological significance in the grasses
  • Plant-atmosphere interactions in the geological past
  • Modern plant-climate relationships

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Professor David Beerling FRS

  • Mechanisms of climate change in Earth history
  • Biotic evolution and extinction
  • Earth systems science

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Professor Julie Gray

  • Antisene gene expression to produce transgenic plants with targeted mutations
  • Understanding mechanisms of plant cell signalling and intracellular communication

View full profile

Professor Julie Scholes

  • Molecular plant-symbiont interactions including angiosperm parasites (Striga and Orobanche), fungal pathogens and mycorrhizas
  • Bio-imaging: in vivo imaging of plant and fungal gene expression
  • Molecular microbial ecology of polluted aquifers
  • The role of biotic factors in the survival of tropical rainforest seedlings

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Professor Mike Burrell

  • Plant metabolism and food processing quality
  • Metabolomics and metabolite profiling
  • Starch synthesis and degradation in agricultural crops

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Professor Richard Leegood

  • Environmental regulation of C4 photosynthesis
  • Interactions between carbon and nitrogen metabolism
  • Roles and regulation of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase in plants

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Genomics, Proteomics and Metabolomics

Dr Andrew Beckerman

  • Scaling from behaviour to population dynamics
  • Dynamical consequences of predation risk
  • Food webs and foraging ecology

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Dr Eran Elhaik

  • Population genetics (biogeography, population structure, DNA reconstruction)
  • molecular evolution (molecular clocks, evolution rates)
  • Genomics (genome evolution, phylogeny)
  • Epigenetics (methylation, gene expression, regulation)
  • Ecology

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Dr Heather Walker

  • Mass Spectrometry Specialist
  • Metabolite Profiling and Metabolomics
  • Understanding metabolism in biological systems

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Dr Karim Sorefan

  • Molecular mechanisms regulating plant development with a focus on linking miRNA and hormonal pathways
  • Developing exploitation of plants in areas of biotechnology and medicine

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Dr Lisa Smith

  • Trade-offs between plant development/growth and defence
  • Roles of carbohydrate-binding proteins in signalling networks
  • Motor proteins in plant development

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Dr Patrik Nosil

  • Mechanisms of species formation
  • Genome evolution
  • Eco-evolutionary dynamics

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Dr Stuart Campbell

  • Adaptive evolution in plant populations
  • Plant-animal interactions
  • Chemical ecology of plant defence
  • Plant reproduction

View full profile

Dr Stuart Casson

  • The mechanisms that regulate plant development
  • Studying the biochemistry and enzymology of pigment biosynthesis

View full profile

Professor Andrew Fleming

  • The molecular mechanism of plant morphogenesis
  • Leaf form and function
  • Developmental physiology and biochemistry

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Professor Duncan Cameron

  • Professor and Royal Society University Research Fellow
  • Mircrobes in sustainable agro-ecosystems
  • Soils and beneficial microbes
  • Biological chemistry

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Professor Jon Slate

  • The genetic basis of individual fitness variation
  • Detecting the footprint of natural selection by genome sequence analysis
  • Gene mapping in wild and domestic populations

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Professor Julie Gray

  • Antisene gene expression to produce transgenic plants with targeted mutations
  • Understanding mechanisms of plant cell signalling and intracellular communication

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Professor Julie Scholes

  • Molecular plant-symbiont interactions including angiosperm parasites (Striga and Orobanche), fungal pathogens and mycorrhizas
  • Bio-imaging: in vivo imaging of plant and fungal gene expression
  • Molecular microbial ecology of polluted aquifers
  • The role of biotic factors in the survival of tropical rainforest seedlings

View full profile

Professor Jurriaan Ton

  • Professor and ERC Research Fellow
  • Molecular signalling and (epi)genetic basis of priming of plant immunity
  • Ecological impacts and agricultural potential of induced resistance in plants
  • Chemical interactions between plants, microbes, and insects

View full profile

Professor Mike Burrell

  • Plant metabolism and food processing quality
  • Metabolomics and metabolite profiling
  • Starch synthesis and degradation in agricultural crops

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Professor Paul Quick

  • The regulation of carbohydrate metabolism in crop plants
  • Metabolomic approaches to solving novel questions in plant metabolism
  • Role of the oxidative pentose phosphate pathway in secondary metabolism
  • Regulation of leaf development by systematic signals

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Professor Roger Butlin

  • Speciation
  • The paradox of sex
  • Evolution at range margins

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Professor Terry Burke

  • Molecular and genomic methods in evolution and ecology
  • Sexual selection and mating systems in vertebrates
  • Population genetics of natural populations

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Modelling and Theoretical Biology

Dr Dylan Childs

  • Life history theory
  • Structured population modelling
  • Host-parasite dynamics

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Dr Eran Elhaik

  • Population genetics (biogeography, population structure, DNA reconstruction)
  • molecular evolution (molecular clocks, evolution rates)
  • Genomics (genome evolution, phylogeny)
  • Epigenetics (methylation, gene expression, regulation)
  • Ecology

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Professor Mark Rees

  • Impacts of plant invaders on communities and ecosystems
  • Management of plant invaders
  • Population and community dynamics

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Professor Rob Freckleton

  • Population modelling
  • Large scale ecology
  • Comparative analysis and evolutionary ecology

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