Hutton Highlights, February 2019

Contents 04 News Highlights 06 Awards, Accolades & Appointments 08 Mars and Mull have similar soil 10 New elite barley could be a budding success 12 Fungi’s lost data being found thanks to Species Hypothesis 14 Research shines a light into mechanisms of potato late blight infection 16 Scotland-India research collaboration delivers clean water for primary schools 17 Some dates for your diary 11 08 15 12 2 Hutton Highlights February 2019 3 The James Hutton Institute magazine team Gillian Stirton, Bernardo Rodriguez-Salcedo, Adam Walker, Sarah Horne editor@hutton.ac.uk The James Hutton Institute is a well-respected and globally recognised research organisation delivering fundamental and applied science to drive the sustainable use of land and natural resources. @JamesHuttonInst /JamesHuttonInstitute /JamesHuttonInstitute Green light for strategic developments Four years of preparatory work, consortium construction, ‘imagineering’ and business-case development have paid off: the International Barley Hub and Advanced Plant Growth Centre projects have been accepted as part of the Tay Cities Deal investment programme and will receive £62m of the £68m funding package bid for. For the Hutton-led projects to be supported to that extent by both the UK and Scottish Government is a significant endorsement of the potential in research-led economic development in the agri-food sector. Both projects’ business cases are fully developed and ‘ready to go’ so we will be mobilising all efforts to get started quickly and realise the economic benefits both will bring. Investment in science is, of course, an investment in the wider economy so the UK Budget commitment to increase national spending on R&D to 2.4% of GDP over the next 10 years makes perfect sense economically and we hope that the detail around that additional investment will crystallise new opportunities for Hutton and our partner organisations to deliver value to the economy – financial and social. The stories in this new edition of Highlights shed light on the work that delivers for clients, for the economy and for society. I hope they pique your interest and, as ever, would be happy to hear from you if you have any comments, reactions or questions arising from them. Comments? Applications are sought for the post of Director of SEFARI Gateway, which is held on an interim basis at present by Dr Charles Bestwick. Details can be found here and applications are open until 15 Feb. One of the Gateway’s recent funded projects brought peatland restoration researchers across various institutes and UHI together to make a 360 o video about work to restore degraded peatland on Balmoral estate and at the RSPB’s Forsinard reserve in Caithness. Hutton researchers Rebekka Artz and Gillian Donaldson-Selby were major contributors to the 21-minute film which is designed to be viewed on a virtual reality headset but which can also be watched in 2D. SEFARI activity SEFARI Gateway Director opportunity Introduction Professor Colin Campbell, Chief Executive of The James Hutton Institute Use your mouse to navigate the full 360 o visuals, or use a VR headset /company/james-hutton-institute