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Dr Adriane Esquivel Muelbert, Head of Global Change Ecology at Cambridge, has been awarded a prestigious Philip Leverhulme Prize for her work on the impacts of global change on forest biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.Dr Esquivel Muelbert is one of 30 winners of the 2026 Philip Leverhulme Prize announced by the Leverhulme Trust today.Chosen fr…

The new Coastal Ecology and Conservation field course ran for the first time this September taking students to salt marshes, sand dunes, rivers and conservation sites in North Norfolk.The trip, jointly organised with the Department of Zoology, was an opportunity for students to hone their bird and plant identification skills, design their own exper…

A landmark study led by the University of Cambridge’s Department of Plant Sciences and Centre for Global Wood Security formally defines the concept of global wood security and identifies the 20 greatest challenges to wood security in the 21st century.The authors urge the international community to elevate wood security alongside food, energy, and w…

The Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Cambridge welcomes approaches from Early Career Researchers who wish to hold an externally funded Post-Doctoral research fellowship from a UK or international research sponsor in the department. Our research covers broad areas of plant science, from genetics and molecular biology, through photos…

Researchers from the Plant-Parasite Interactions group are using 3D-printed robots and AI to massively accelerate screening plants for nematode resistance – with the eventual aim of identifying genes that could help develop naturally resilient crops for global food security.Plant-parasitic nematodes represent a significant, yet often invisible, thr…

In our ‘Science to solutions’ series we talk to Cambridge scientists working with industry, business, NGO and other partners to help solve real-world problems using cutting-edge research.Rachel Russell is a 3rd year PhD student in Professor Nik Cunniffe’s Quantitative Plant Health group in the Department of Plant Sciences. Her research focuses on o…

Research led by Danai Kontou as part of her PhD thesis while in the Ecosystems and Global Change group at Cambridge, has found that one of North America’s most ecologically and economically damaging invaders, the spiny water flea, may have been in North America for centuries longer than believed. She discusses the implications for how governments a…

Researchers in the Tropical Ecology and Conservation group have conducted the most comprehensive study to date on how habitat restoration in sub-Saharan Africa impacts tree loss beyond project boundaries.Largest study to date of how restoration affects tree loss beyond project boundaries in sub-Saharan AfricaResearchers analysed nearly 130,000 rest…

Researchers have analysed aerial laser scans of huge areas across the Cairngorms Connect partnership in the Scottish Highlands, to produce incredibly detailed maps showing millions of young trees have naturally established following an increase in deer culling.A University of Cambridge-led team has used aerial surveys across a huge swathe of the Ca…

Research from the Cereal Symbiosis group shows how rising carbon dioxide (CO₂) levels affect nutrient uptake in rice and highlights the importance of beneficial soil fungi as a vital ally for sustaining crop yields and carbon storage in a changing climate.As atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) levels continue to climb, researchers are working to under…

A new study, led by the Forest Ecology and Conservation group, has produced the first large-scale, high-resolution map of how quickly tropical forests recover carbon and structure when left to regrow naturally on former pastureland.The team used repeated airborne laser scans (lidar) across Brazil's Atlantic Forest to track precise changes in the fo…

In our ‘Science to solutions’ series we talk to Cambridge scientists working with industry, business, NGO and other partners to help solve real-world problems using cutting-edge research.Lauren Eddie is a final-year PhD student at the Cereal Symbiosis group at the Crop Science Centre, part of the Department of Plant Sciences. She is collaborating w…

Researchers, plant breeders, funders and farmers from across Africa, Cambridge, and the wider world will gather in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, from 12-14 October 2026 for the Africa Crop Forum 2026. The Forum will focus on accelerating collaborative solutions to some of the continent’s most pressing agricultural challenges, including crop disease, clim…

Cambridge researchers used Tessera, a geospatial foundation model, to map tree species across the mountainous Trentino region in Italy, outperforming traditional satellite methods and opening the door to low-cost, continent-scale forest mapping.Forests are increasingly under threat from drought, storms, disease and logging. Mapping tree species hel…

A new study involving Professor David Coomes from the Department of Plant Sciences has found that cutting lianas increases canopy height in regenerating logged forests three times faster than tree planting alone, as reported on 13 July by Mongabay: As the world faces the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss, researchers are trying to…