Email: [email protected]
David is a third year PhD student with the Souh Coast Biosciences DTP. He is primarily based at NIAB in East Malling where he is working on an interdisciplinary project studying the UK food system's capcity to ensure nation-wide Vitamin C security.
David's current work is focused on understanding how well the UK food system is doing at ensuring that everyone always has access to enough vitamin C to live a healthy life. The project is studying the seasonal dynamics of vitamin C supplies and the demographic inequities in consumption of vitamin C-rich fruit and vegetables. David is concurrently investigating ways of biofortifying strawberry, a popular local nutritous crop in the UK, through both selection of more vitamin C dense cultivars and by changing agronomic practices.
David graduated from the University of Southampton in 2020 with a BSc in Biology before joining the first cohort of the South Coast Biosciences DTP later the same year. During his undergraduate study, David developed a keen interest in plant biology and bioinformatics, leading him to work on a number of projects involving genome assemblies of underutilised crops and exploring the evolutionary dynamics of point mutations and transposable elements in legumes and brassicas. Throughout his work, the challenge of ensuring food security has become the key driver for David's continued research interests.