Research Overview

The Mission of Rothamsted Research is to be a world leading scientific research establishment making significant contributions, nationally and internationally to the sustainable management of agricultural land and the environment through innovations that lead to sustainable products and practices reducing reliance on non-renewable inputs.

Rothamsted conducts its research in interdisciplinary teams with a "systems" approach being increasingly pervasive. Chemists, biochemists, molecular biologists, bio-mathematicians and whole organism and population biologists commonly work together on the same research programme. Research is managed in six Departments each with a distinct mission:

Rothamsted Research Quality Statement (Adobe Acrobat PDF file)

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The Applied Crop Sciences Department is based at the Broom's Barn site which is the UK's national centre for sugar beet research and extension work. Located in a major sugar beet producing region, near Bury St Edmunds, the research of the Department spans a wide range of scientific disciplines and includes liaison/extension work with growers and the industry. Specialist extension staff provide a two-way dialogue of advisory information with growers and their technical advisers. Projects include different approaches to increasing crop production and profitability, reducing inputs and minimising environmental impact.

The Biological Chemistry Department is well known for its development of the synthetic pyrethroids. New approaches have also brought the Department to international prominence in the field of chemical ecology, with first identifications of a range of semiochemicals, including aphid, mosquito and sandfly pheromones. The Department collaborates with the Plant Science Department on the exploitation of plant stress signals for induced crop defence. Pioneering work on the molecular mechanisms by which insects resist pesticides continues and similar approaches are now being used to elucidate the molecular nature of insect olfaction.

The Biomathematics and Bioinformatics Department researches and develops mathematical, statistical and computational solutions to biological problems at all levels of biological scale. Our aim is to complement laboratory, field and landscape studies with theoretical and in-silico models that can be used to plan and interpret these experiments. A core component of our work is the development of novel approaches to the integration and interpretation of complex and noisy datasets. We also participate as collaborators and provide consulting resources and training in the design of experiments, data analysis and interpretation.

North Wyke's mission is to undertake internationally excellent science that elucidates the interactions between soil, microbes, plants, animals, water and the atmosphere within grassland-dominated landscapes. This research will contribute to the evidence base for the sustainable, multifunctional land management systems that are adaptable to different production and/or environmental goals; help protect our natural resources; help mitigate against, and adapt to, climate change and take account of changing social, economic, policy and environmental conditions. North Wyke Research works to ensure the economic and social impact of its research, regionally, nationally and internationally, through innovation, training and the engagement with users, policy makers, stakeholders and the general public.

The Plant and Invertebrate Ecology Department studies the biodiversity of organisms in agricultural habitats, including the genetics and spatio-temporal dynamics of weeds, invertebrates and their arthropod and microbial natural enemies. The Department also investigates integrated pest management strategies, for example enhancement of natural biological control through habitat manipulation. Its work on the evolution of pesticide resistance is internationally recognised. More recently it has focussed on the responses of populations, species and communities to changes in land management and climate.

The Plant Pathology and Microbiology Department aims to develop effective, durable, economic and environmentally sound strategies for the control of crop diseases through an improved understanding of the interactions between plants, pathogenic agents and the environment. The research ranges from fundamental work on how pathogens cause disease, using the latest genomic approaches to identify genes and processes involved in pathogenicity, to applied projects on the diagnosis and practical management of diseases in the crop. Biological, genetic and chemical methods of disease control all feature in the Department's portfolio.

The Plant Science Department focuses on the application of plant science to understanding and improving arable crops. Current interests include grain structure and development, metabolic signalling and regulation, the hormonal control of plant development, and metabolic engineering to produce high value components (nutraceutical fatty acids and terpenoids).Work within the Department is underpinned by facilities and expertise in wheat transformation and proteomics, and by the National Centre for Plant and Microbial Metabolomics.

The Soil Science Department has internationally-acknowledged expertise in nutrient cycling in soils and crop plants, soil protection and remediation and carbon dynamics. Current areas on which its research focuses are new agricultural practices that maintain profitability but minimise environmental pollution, sulphur supply to crops, integrated carbon, nitrogen and sulphur cycling models, the bioavailability of pollutants, phytoremediation of polluted land, carbon sequestration and climate change.