News

Breakthrough imaging and genomic mapping in rice roots show that the vital structures of nutrient exchange in plant-fungi interactions are far more dynamic and diverse than previously believed – challenging 50 years of agricultural assumptions.Researchers at the Crop Science Centre (CSC), part of the Department of Plant Sciences at the University o…

Professor Uta Paszkowski, Director of the Crop Science Centre and Head of the Cereal Symbiosis group at the Department of Plant Sciences, has been named as a 2026 Top Agri-food Pioneer by the World Food Prize Foundation.The Top Agri-food Pioneers (TAP) initiative recognises global innovators who are advancing agriculture and food systems through sc…

A systematic global analysis has revealed that more than half of the world’s tree species – some 26,096 distinct types – have been introduced to regions outside their natural habitats. The research, published in the journal Current Biology today, provides the first comprehensive checklist and mapping of global tree flows, drawing on a massive datas…

We are delighted to share that His Majesty King Charles III has confirmed Professor Sir David Baulcombe as the next Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. Professor Baulcombe will succeed Professor Dame Sally Davies when she steps down later this year.Professor Baulcombe is the Regius Professor of Botany Emeritus at the Department of Plant Sciences,…

Altering livestock grazing could allow soils to store billions more tonnes of carbon each year, depending on the region. However, net climate benefits depend heavily on the source of supplementary feed.A new Cambridge-led study offers the most comprehensive assessment to date of how altering livestock grazing practices across the world’s rangelands…

Researchers from the Department of Plant Sciences are set to play a key role in a new European consortium to build the first platform capable of coordinating Europe's response to devastating agricultural and forest pest invasions.Each year, plant pests destroy up to 40% of agricultural yields worldwide and threaten to devastate forest ecosystems, y…

Mangrove forests, once considered one of the world’s most threatened coastal ecosystems, are showing signs of recovery worldwide, according to new research that finds decades of losses largely offset by regrowth and expansion. The study, based on four decades of satellite data, finds that mangrove forests worldwide are no longer in net decline and …

Industrial-scale mining in Africa to support global supply chains is leading to unprecedented deforestation across the continent, with 34 hectares of forest removed for every hectare of active mine site.A study involving the University of Cambridge has found that 187,000 hectares of forest were lost to mining activity in Africa between 2001 and 202…

We are delighted to announce that Professor Uta Paszkowski has been appointed to the Russell R. Geiger Chair in Crop Science, a prestigious academic chair within the Department of Plant Sciences that serves as a cornerstone for cutting-edge agricultural research, sustainability and global food security. As part of this role, Professor Paszkowski fo…

In this series we talk to Cambridge scientists working with industry, business, NGO and other partners using cutting-edge research to help solve real-world problems.Lottie Apsey is a Plant Sciences PhD student at the University of Cambridge, working with the Processors and Growers Research Organisation (PGRO) to explore the role of wildflower margi…

We are delighted to share that Professor Beverley Glover and Professor Uta Paszkowski from the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Cambridge have been elected as Fellows of the Royal Society, the UK’s national academy of sciences and the oldest science academy in continuous existence. Professor Julian Hibberd, Head of the Department o…

On 14 and 15 May, the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Cambridge hosted researchers from Europe, the US and Japan for the ASPIRE-GreenTE network event at St John’s College, Cambridge. This meeting brought together two complementary international initiatives: the ASPIRE programme, which supports global research partnerships and rese…

New analysis shows 85% of carbon emissions from the 2025 Dava Moor Fire in Scotland came from peat combustion, signalling a dangerous shift in how wildfires behave in historically boggy landscapes.New analysis of carbon emissions from the 2025 Dava Moor Fire in Scotland could mark a shift in the risk of big, destructive, carbon-intensive wildfires …

Field trials in India show that bio-fertilisers containing naturally occurring soil fungi enhance growth in rice plants. This may offer a pathway to reducing farmers’ reliance on synthetic fertilisers, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in rice farming.The trials, led by researchers at the Department of Plant Sciences, Cambridge in partnership U…

Researchers have found that a multi-protein molecular switch used by modern plants to determine cell fate originated in the earliest land plants nearly half a billion years ago. The study shows how this system was repurposed over millennia, allowing plants to adapt to life on land. While scientists already knew that this regulatory mechanism – the …