James Hutton Institute

Jenny is research and communications manager at SEFARI Gateway, the Scottish Government’s Centre of Expertise for Knowledge Exchange and Innovation.

After her undergraduate degree at the University of Oxford she completed postgraduate studies in newspaper journalism at the University of Cardiff and then spent a decade as a newspaper reporter, including five years as The Scotsman’s environment correspondent. Before joining SEFARI Gateway she spent eight years running her own business in the agritourism sector from her small farm in Aberdeenshire.

Thomas (Tom) is an ecologist specialising in the study of carbon cycling in upland and far northern ecosytems. Much of this research centres on roots and the 'rhizosphere'- the volume of soil directly influenced by root activity- and how root and rhizosphere processes control the capacity of an ecosystem to store carbon. Tom's expertise is in understanding ecological processes, how they connect within an ecosystem and how they are influenced by climate and vegetation change.

Peter is a Research Leader in the Information and Computational Sciences department at the James Hutton Institute. He is a plant disease epidemiologist with 15 years’ research experience in epidemiological modelling, with a focus on developing decision support tools for agriculture. 

Area of Strategic Research Programme: Lead of Topic Line A1 (Plant Disease), institute Lead of Theme A (Plant & Animal Disease), Lead PI for project JHI-A1-1 “Epidemiology of key pests and diseases.”

Eugene is a research leader in virology in the Molecular plant pathology group within the Cell and Molecular Sciences department of JHI. His research focuses on virus-host interactions in plants and invertebrates and includes the discovery of novel viruses, analysis of virus population structure and diversity, host antiviral defenses and viral counter-defenses, the impact of viruses on the host physiology, and the wider effect of microbes on agricultural and natural ecosystems.

Areas of Strategic Research Programme 

Akis is an experienced plant scientist with expertise in genomics, plant nematology and the application of next-generation sequencing techniques and analyses.

In his current role as Research Scientist within the Molecular Physiology & Genetics group at The James Hutton Institute, he works towards understanding the interactions between plants and abiotic or biotic factors using molecular biology tools and genomic approaches.

Area of Strategic Research Programme

Simon in a senior Research Technician for the Plant Biochemistry & Food Quality sub-group (within EBS department and Advanced Plant Growth Centre).

His current role is wide ranging from experimental set up all the way through to sample analysis using high-throughput methods, including HPLC, LC-MS and GC-MS.

Area of Strategic Research Programme

Theme B: Sustainable food system and supply; Project B1-5: Crop improvement for sustainable production in a changing environment

Raul is a senior crop molecular physiologist at the James Hutton Institute in Dundee, working within the Advanced Plant Growth Centre (APGC). His discovery-led research explores how plants respond at the physiological and molecular levels to environmental stress, as well as their adaptive strategies and limitations.