MPhil/PhD Agriculture

MPhil and PhD supervision covers a number of research topics supported by research active academic staff. Our range of research areas relate to crop science, soil science, ecological (organic) agriculture, and agricultural water management.

Crop science

Genes and physiological traits, such as:

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.

You will receive a tailored package of support from the University to ensure you maximise your research and future career. There are also opportunities to undertake your research at Newcastle within a Doctoral Training Centre, Centre for Doctoral Training or Doctoral Training Partnership.