CUPGRA is reviewing  its Research Strategy so that CUPGRA can ensure that its resources are focussed on what you most need and want

Your views are important to help shape the outcomes so please get involved.

We have put together a simple questionnaire that should take no more than 10 minutes to complete. LINK to questionnaire here (as Google form)

This survey will run until just before the Conference – but please don’t leave it until the last minute. Please contribute as soon as you can.

We also want to give the chance for more detailed conversations amongst members and the Research and Development sub-committee.

This will take place online (via Zoom) on Friday 22 November, 3.30 – 5.00 pm

Please register here https://www.cupgra.com/event-details/cupgra-research-strategy-review-get-involved; we will then send the Zoom link to you directly.

This will be a facilitated workshop to share updates and to give you chance to ask questions and explore the options.

Both of these activities will feed into the review.

We will give an update at the Conference and expect to present the final strategy to underpin CUPGRA’s research focus for the next 5 years at the Research Review on 25th February 2025.

Kind regards

Debbie for the R and D Sub- committee CUPGRA.​​

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Judith has worked in the food and drink industry for 40 years in manufacturing, retailing, and from 2004 to 2021 as Director of Sainsbury’s Brand driving the Product Quality and Innovation agendas along with Corporate Responsibility, Sustainability, and Public Affairs.

Today Judith is Deputy Chair of The Environment Agency, Chair of MicroSalt and The Rugby Players Association, a Non-Executive Director of Monaghan Mushrooms and Daemon, a Trustee of The Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, and an ambassador for Farm Africa and the Woodland Trust.

Judith is a Biochemist, nutritionist, has an Honorary Doctorate in Agriculture from Harper Adams University, she is an Associate of the Royal Agricultural Societies, Honorary President of the British Nutrition Foundation, and a Fellow of the Institute of Food Science and Technology (IFST), the Royal Society of Arts and Manufactures (RSA) and a liveryman at The Worshipful Company of Butchers.

From 2013 to 2018 she co-chaired of the Governments’ AgriTech Council and today she co-chairs Defra’s Food Data Transparency Partnership Eco group. She was awarded an OBE in 2015 for services to Farming and the Food Industry, and is a Commissioner on the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission and The Harper Commission into the Future of UK Food.

Joseph is a Senior Lecturer of applied data science at Harper Adams University (HAU). He earned his PhD from HAU in 2022, where he investigated the potential of remote sensing in mapping soil and crop variability relevant to tuber yield and size. This AHDB-funded research introduced AI methods for plant density mapping, predicted marketable yield from satellite imagery, produced new methods for evaluating tuber size distribution and explored soil conductivity’s impact on potato yield. After his PhD, Joseph worked with Crop4Sight, developing satellite-based groundcover models, tuber sizing, and yield modelling applications, among others. He then worked with Solynta, developing various end-to-end sensor-based phenotyping applications relevant to breeding and advanced genomic selections. Building on over eight years in the CGIAR (IITA) in agronomy roles, supported by a BSc in Agronomy and an MSc in Soil Science, he now operates at the intersection between potato physiology, remote sensing, AI, and data science, bringing this knowledge to bear on the goal to “Understand how potatoes grow”.