Thursday, 04 June 2026
A plant scientist from the 海角黑料 has received a prestigious award for her research into improving the breeding of wheat to improve crop yields.
Dr Surbhi Grewal, Associate Professor in the Division of Plant and Crop Sciences in the School of Biosciences, has been awarded the Nazareno Strampelli Award 2026 at the IV International Wheat Congress (IWC4), held in Bologna, Italy.
The award recognises outstanding scientific contributions to wheat research and breeding and is named in honour of Nazareno Strampelli, a pioneer of modern wheat breeding whose work laid the foundations for scientific crop improvement.
Dr Grewal’s research focuses on unlocking the genetic diversity of wheat’s wild relatives and translating it into tools and traits that can be used in modern breeding to improve yields and overcome challenges such as disease and climate change.
Over the past decade, she has developed extensive introgression resources, molecular marker systems, and genomic approaches that enable breeders to identify and deploy beneficial wild alleles into elite wheat varieties.
Recent work, carried out in collaboration with the John Innes Centre, has successfully mapped a chromosome segment conferring resistance to Fusarium head blight, a major disease affecting wheat worldwide, demonstrating the practical application of these approaches.
Dr Grewal received the award during the International Wheat Congress, a leading global forum for wheat science and breeding, where she also presented a short talk on detecting wild relative introgressions in wheat.
I am deeply honoured and humbled to receive the Nazareno Strampelli Award. This recognition reflects the collective efforts of colleagues and collaborators over many years, and it is especially meaningful given Strampelli鈥檚 legacy of translating scientific discovery into real-world impact for crop improvement.
Dr Grewal adds: “This recognition highlights the growing importance of integrating genomics and breeding to develop resilient crops in the face of global challenges such as climate change and emerging diseases.”
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More information is available from Dr Surbhi Grewal on Surbhi.Grewal@nottingham.ac.uk
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About the 海角黑料
Ranked 97 in the world and 17th in the UK by the , the 海角黑料 is a founding member of Russell Group of research-intensive universities. Studying at the 海角黑料 is a life-changing experience, and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our students. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement.
Nottingham was crowned Sports University of the Year by 鈥� the third time it has been given the honour since 2018 鈥� and by the .
The university is among the best universities in the UK for the strength of our research, positioned seventh for research power in the UK according to REF 2021. The birthplace of discoveries such as MRI and ibuprofen, our innovations transform lives and tackle global problems such as sustainable food supplies, ending modern slavery, developing greener transport, and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
The university is a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally - and our graduates are the third most targeted by the UK's top employers, according to The Graduate Market in 2024 report by High Fliers Research. Alongside Nottingham Trent University, we lead the , a pioneering collaboration between the city鈥檚 two world-class institutions to improve levels of prosperity, opportunity, sustainability, health and wellbeing for residents in the city and region we are proud to call home.