Agriculture

Overview

We offer a number of different routes to a research Agriculture at the Newcastle University qualification, including full-time and part-time supervised research projects. 

We attract postgraduates via non-traditional routes, including mature students and part-time postgraduates undertaking study as part of their continuing professional development. Off-campus (split) research is also offered, which enables you to conduct trials in conditions appropriate to your research programme.

Crop science

• resistance to crop pests and diseases
• molecular-assisted selection and breeding methods
• plant environment interactions and their relationships to stress biology
• physiological basis of crop yield and quality
• biotransformation of synthetic compounds and natural products in plants
• herbicide selectivity in cereals and competing weeds

Soil science

• soil ecology and the contribution of soil biodiversity to soil quality
• soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics
• interpretation of soil and landscape processes to improve understanding of recent and historical environmental change
• land degradation processes and their control

Ecological (organic) agriculture

• functional biodiversity for control of pest, disease and weed pressure
• long term factorial systems comparison experiments for in depth study of different aspects of conventional and organic farming systems

Agricultural water management

• irrigated agriculture
• interactions between land-use and hydrological response in a semi-arid environment
• soil hydrological processes affecting management of salinity in irrigated land