Horticultural Crop Research (East Malling)

The Group Leader provides scientific leadership in viticulture and oenology research and development of the Wine Innovation Centre.

Sarah specialises in the ecology and biology of pest and beneficial insects in fruit horticulture, both in the UK and overseas. She has a particular interest in the behaviour and ecology of pollinators, and also works on pest-plant and predator-pest interactions in the context of sustainable pest management.

She leads research into the biology and control of a range of crop pests, and into optimising pollinators on UK fruit crops, including by precision management of commercial pollinators.

Research interests

Deborah has a BTech and MSc in Biochemistry. Her research interest is in the applications of genetics and genomic tools to crop improvement for economic sustainability, enhanced nutrition, and health.

She is currently enrolled in the CTP-FCR PhD studentship in Crop Sciences at the University of Reading and based at NIAB East Malling. Her PhD research is focused on understanding the mechanism and genetic control of primocane and floricane fruiting habits in raspberries and blackberries.

Staring as a Trials Officer at NIAB in 2015, Lorenzo Borleanu became a Trials Manager three years later, before moving onto Field Trials Centre Manager in 2022.

Lorenzo is responsible for the Kent Centre management, this includes oversight of the allocation, distribution, conduct and recording of trials, ensuring appropriate levels and utilisation of resources to deliver products, services and results that meet customer demands in terms of timeliness and specification.

As Head of Glasshouse Facilities, Emma manages two teams at the glasshouse complexes at East Malling and at Park Farm, Cambridge.

Her main duties involve the service delivery of various science projects and external trials, including running environmental computer controls for glasshouses and growth rooms. Emma is also the plant health site advisor, chair of the plant health team  and assists in setting up and the managing various costing models and systems.

Celine manages and assists research projects in both field and laboratory environment at NIAB at East Malling. She is working to create suitable habitats for beneficial insects and arthropods and looking at how they impact pest control in the crops. These studies also help to outline which flowering resources may be more suitable for each type of crop. Celine has expertise in pest identification, especially key species of thrips that are damaging to soft fruit.

Chandra is based at NIAB East Malling in the Genetics, Genomics and Breeding (GGB) Department.

He received his MPhil and a PhD degree from the University of Delhi and subsequently undertook post-doctoral research at the National Institute of Plant Genome Research in New Delhi India, the University of Milan in Italy, the Agricultural Research Organization (ARO) in Israel and Aberystwyth University before coming to NIAB.

Francesca provides field and laboratory based technical support for research projects and commercial trials, focusing on the control of insect pests in soft fruit, top fruit and hops. She is based with the Pest and Pathogen Ecology team at East Malling in Kent.

Current research

Title: SWD Stop Spot - Control of Drosophila suzukii in fruit crops using Sterile Insect Technique (SIT)
Duraction: October 2021 – March 2023
Partners: BigSis, Berry Gardens
Funder: Innovate UK

Adam is a specialist in development of sustainable pest control strategies that minimise environmental impact.