The IBERS CEA group was established in October 2019 and builds on our diverse skills in this field. We work closely with academic and industrial partners and focus on the following areas:
• ‘Pop up’, low and integrated carbon growth systems.
• Breeding crops for the indoor environment
• Manipulating plant growth and development using light.
• Elevated CO2 research.
• Controlling the quality of crops indoors via ‘stress tools’; manipulating leaf/fruit chemistry.
• Assessing plant chemical and nutritional quality
Controlled Environment Agriculture Research Group Members:
| Name | Background |
| Dr. Dylan Gwynn-Jones | Group Leader with interests in plants stressor biology and the development of low carbon indoor crop production systems embracing the principles of the circular economy. |
| Professor John Doonan | Director of the National Phenomics Centre see: https://www.plant-phenomics.ac.uk/ |
| Dr. Paul Robson | Photobiologist focussed on how light manipulation can be used to enhance crop growth and quality in indoor systems. |
| Professor Alison Kingston Smith | Plant biochemist with expertise on photosynthesis (carbon metabolism/carbohydrates), antioxidant systems and plant stress responses culminating in cell death. |
Additional Expertise
| Name | Background |
| Professor John Draper | Head of the High Resolution Metabolomics Laboratory at IBERS and Leader on Enabling Technologies within IBERS including core facilities for Metabolomics, Next Generation Sequencing, Plant Phenomics and Bioinformatics. |
| Professor Leif Skott | Leader of Plant breeding at Aberystwyth involved in commercial forage, legume and public good plant breeding programmes. |
| Dr. David Lloyd | Legume plant breeder focused on improvements and genomics of legumes including novel undomesticated legumes. |
| Dr. Ana Winters | Plant Biochemist with expertise on Plant Secondary metabolism and antioxidants. |
| Dr. Dave Whitworth | Microbiologist with interest in role of microbial communities in hydroponic systems. |
| Dr. John Scullion | Soil biologist and application of this expertise to optimize indoor plant growth in hydroponics. |
| Dr. Roger Santer | Entomologist with interests on how light can be used to attract pollinators and deter pests indoors |
Training
Training opportunity’s can be found at IBERS Distance Learning.
Aber Innovation Enterprise Campus
If you are a business and are interested in collaborative discussions please contact us or AIEC at