News
Professor Tim George appointed as new Director of the International Barley Hub
We are delighted to announce that Professor Tim George has been appointed as the new Director of the International Barley Hub, replacing Professor Robbie Waugh who will be stepping down. Read More
Bere Barley Participatory Network Workshop 2024
Bere is an ancient barley landrace that was widely grown in northern Britain until 100 years ago. Its ability to grow on poor soils, under challenging climatic conditions made it a valuable staple. Read More
La BEST-CROP
Turning barley straw into composite materials isn’t something you may immediately think of, but this is the focus of researchers at IMT Mines Ales as part of the ‘Boosting photosynthESis To deliver novel CROPs for the circular bioeconomy’ or ‘BEST-CROP’ project. Read More
International delegates gather in Tayside to discuss the future of barley
The week kicks off with the annual project meetings for two EU projects, RECOBAR and BEST-CROP, featuring speakers at all stages of their scientific careers from established academics to PhD students and from as far afield as the University of Melbourne and the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas in Morrocco. Read More
International Barley Study Offers Good News for Scottish Growers
We have played a crucial role in a major international study to create the most comprehensive DNA-based genetic map of barley to date. Read More
Cereals Arable Event 2024
Cereals is the UK’s premier arable event. Its aim is to equip the arable supply chain with the latest knowledge, ideas, and technology to help them embrace all the challenges and opportunities which will arise in the coming years. Read More
BARIToNE May Summer School 2024
During the second week in May, the first and second cohort of BARIToNE students took part in the first annual BARIToNE Summer School, hosted across the James Hutton Institute and University of Dundee (UoD). Read More
Scientists identify a gene important for grain quality
Plants produce a protective layer against water loss, excessive solar radiation and pathogens attack; in barley, the genes that contribute to this protective layer are also crucial to produce high quality grain. Read More
Director of the International Barley Hub features in the OnFARM podcast
Recently, Professor Robbie Waugh, Director of the International Barley Hub was featured in the OnFARM (food, agriculture & rural matters) podcast. Read More
Barley EU Network visit to IPK Gatersleben and Breeding API Hackathon
As part of the IBH BBSRC Barley EU Network project led by Isabelle Colas and involving researchers from Hutton, University of Dundee and IPK, Sebastian Raubach from the Information & Computational Sciences Department was invited to present his work on bioinformatics research software development at the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (more commonly known as IPK). Read More
Monogram 2024
Last month David, Chiara, Ali, Malcolm, Miriam, George, Sarah, Linsan, Micha, and Kelly from the Hutton and Uni of Dundee plant sciences attended the annual Monogram conference between the 25- 27th of March. Read More
German Plant Breeding Conference
The German Plant Breeding Conference was held 19th to 21st March 2024. I was invited along to the event by the Crop Trust to highlight the work we have been doing on making data from pre-breeding and diversity projects available to the community using bioinformatics tools and capabilities developed at the Hutton. Read More
ICARDA Partners’ and Farmers’ Day
After the BOLD GridScore training in New Delhi I was invited by ICARDA to attend their “Foundations” day to celebrate the opening of their new facilities at Amlaha near to Bhopal in India. Read More
GridScore Training in India
Biodiversity for Opportunities, Livelihoods and Development or BOLD for short is a ground-breaking 10-year project to strengthen food and nutrition security worldwide by supporting the conservation and use of crop diversity. Read More
The art of mixing
I approached Gillian McFarland and Ruth Singer, two artists who have had some experience in illustrating molecular science using a range of media. I was fascinated by their exhibition on DNA at Leicester University Department of Genetics, and looking through their work, I was became motivated by the prospect of convincing them to create a piece of art that symbolised barley meiosis and the process of genetic re-assortment. Read More
Welcoming stakeholders to our new Field Centre
Some of the barley industry’s’ leading figures assembled at our Field Centre in Invergowrie as we hosted our barley stakeholder event. Read More
The Barley Away Days | BAD news travels fast!
The Barley Away Days (BAD – unfortunate acronym for an excellent event!) are an annually recurring item on our calendar and it turns out that 2024 was a bumper year. Read More
New study could sow seeds of change for barley
The James Hutton Institute supports plans being put forward to create a life sciences innovation district for the Dundee region. Read More
Open call to galvanize the global barley research community
A renowned group of barley scientists, including researchers from the James Hutton Institute and the University of Dundee, has issued an open call to ‘galvanize’ the international barley research community from the ground up by increasing interactions, establishing new collaborations and offering greater value to global research investments. Read More
Finding a needle in a haystack: exploring the rhizosphere microbiota in barley
Researchers at the University of Dundee’s School of Life Sciences and the James Hutton Institute, with the contribution of colleagues in the UK, Italy and Germany, recently identified genes shaping the rhizosphere microbiota in the staple crop barley. Read More
Cheers to great barley science on International Beer Day
Behind great tasting beer is great science, like the barley research taking place at the James Hutton Institute and the International Barley Hub. Read More
International Barley Hub Field Centre opened in Invergowrie
The International Barley Hub Field Centre at the James Hutton Institute was officially opened today (2 December) by UK Government Minister for Scotland, Malcolm Offord. Read More
Contract signed for construction of £28.7m combined Advanced Plant Growth Centre and International Barley Hub
The James Hutton Institute and McLaughlin & Harvey have signed construction contracts worth £28.7m for the next stage of the ongoing redevelopment. Read More
Scotland at forefront of agricultural innovation, securing global food supplies
Global food security is going to be a dominant economic theme over the next decade. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine a year ago, we have all seen just how fragile the food ecosystem really is to acute shocks, as well as the chronic effects of climate extremes and pandemics. Read More