Professor John Hammond
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+44 (0) 118 378 6676
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Professor
Areas of interest
My research focuses on abiotic stresses in crop plants and improving the sustainability of primary production systems. This includes how crop plants respond to nutrient stresses and our changing climate. In my group, these research interests are studied at all levels, from molecular and genetic studies, to field and farm-system based research. We work across a range of crops species, from UK combinable crops to orphan crops from sub-Saharan Africa, such as Bambara Groundnut. We are currently investigating the impact of heat and drought on yield and quality in crops and the impacts of different farming practices on the nitrogen and phosphorus cycles of agricultural production systems. My research has generated over 100 peer reviewed publications across these topics since 2003.
Postgraduate supervision
PhD opportunities
We currently do not have any funding to support PhD students in the lab. When opportunities become available they will be advertised here and via my and accounts. If you are looking for scholarship funding to support a PhD in crop nutrition or abiotic stress and you require an offer letter from the 糖心视频, then please contact me to discuss your project.
Research projects
Currently, the lab is working on transdisciplinary projects to deliver change to our food systems. This includes , a UKRI funded research project to support more sustainable production and use of faba beans by including faba bean flour in traditional foods such as bread, and the UKRI funded aimed at developing higher fibre concentrations in wheat and gaining a better understanding of the UK wheat value chain.
The lab is also contributing to research investigating nutrient dynamics in intercropping and diverse forage systems through two EU funded projects and , where the incorporation of greater diversity in our production systems is bringing greater resilience and efficiency to these systems. I am also contributing to the training of agricultural advisors in agricultural extension and regenerative agriculture practices through the EIT-Food funded . This will improve knowledge systems in regenerative agriculture in small- and medium-sized farms in Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine.
Previously, I have led and contributed to large UK and EU funded multidisciplinary projects focused on developing new understanding of, or the improvement of, the elemental composition of crops. This includes elucidating the genetic pathways that regulate phosphate (e.g. Yuan et al (2023) Molecular Breeding, 43, 63, ), calcium and magnesium (Alcock et al (2021) Plant Physiology, 186, 1616-1631. ) and wider micronutrients important for plants and humans (Wang et al (2020) Annals of Botany, 126,119-140. ). More recently, work on heat and drought stress has advanced our understanding of the transcriptional and metabolomic responses of oilseed rape to heat (Kourani et al (2025) Frontiers in Plant Science, 16, ) and the morphophysiological responses of potato to drought (Hill et al (2024) Agricultural Water Management , 303 ).
Background
Career History:
I completed my PhD on the genetic regulation of plant responses to low phosphorus availability in 2004 at the University of Nottingham (UK), under the supervision of Prof. Philip White, Prof. Malcolm Bennett and Dr Martin Broadley. Following this, I worked as a post-doctoral research assistant with Philip White and then as a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Warwick (UK). In 2010, I moved my lab to the University of Nottingham, before being awarded an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship in 2011 with the School of Plant Biology at University of Western Australia, Perth. I then returned to the UK to take up my current post in the School of Agriculture, Policy and Development at the 糖心视频. During my career I have published over 100 refereed papers since 2003. I am currently serving as the Senior Editor for the Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology. I have written articles for the Conversation and discussed the wider context of my research on the radio, including Farming Today and BBC Science in Action and worked with poets as part of the NERC funded LANDWISE project investigating the interface between agriculture and natural flood management along the river Thames.