The research of project staff and affiliates ranges widely across the history of twentieth and twenty-first century agricultural science and development. You can learn more by following the links through to different topics below, or learn more about what each researcher is interested in via the researcher profile pages.
To find publications arising from these research projects, visit our Resources page.
Agricultural Virology in Mid-Twentieth-Century Britain: From the Potato Virus Research Station to the Virus Research Unit
Doctoral research project by João Rocha Joaquim
Keywords: agricultural science, organisms as tools, biotechnology, spaces of science
Armed and Arable: The Greening of a Cold-War Archipelago (1942–2022)
Doctoral research project by Zsuzsanna Ihar
Keywords: military, agricultural science, Hebrides, crop revitalisation, Scotland, scientific expertise
Conservation and Flavour: The case of Chile (Capsicum spp.) Conservation Efforts in Mexico from the 1980s until the Twenty-First Century
Doctoral research project by Daniela Sclavo.
Keywords: Chile, pepper, conservation, science, flavour
Endangered Maize
Researcher: Helen Anne Curry
This project, which was supported from 2017–2020 by Helen Curry's CRASSH ProFutura Scientia Fellowship, pursues the history of an unlikely conservation concern: that of Zea mays, also known as corn or maize.
The Global History of Seed Banks
Researcher: Helen Anne Curry
This project investigates the history of seed banking as a global conservation practice and human health imperative. It was launched in 2016 with support from a Wellcome Trust Seed Award and continues as a strand of 'From Collection to Cultivation.'
Harvesting Diversity: Taiwan, Southeast Asia, and the Politics of International Agricultural Research, 1960–2000
Doctoral research project by Leo Chu.
Keywords: Vegetables, diversity, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, Cold War
Historical Perspectives on the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR)
An ongoing project exploring the influences and legacies of the CGIAR, 50 years after its founding.
Organised by Helen Anne Curry (University of Cambridge) and Timothy Lorek (College of St Scholastica)
Peanut Traces: Crop Collections, Industrial Processing, and Intellectual Property in the 20th Century
Post-doctoral research project by Tad Brown
Keywords: Development, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Social Theory, Law
Planting the Seeds of Resistance: Uncovering the History of Seed Sovereignty and Peasant-friendly Farming
Doctoral research project by Hitesh Pant.
Keywords: landworkers’ alliance, la via campesina, seed sovereignty, food security, governance
Predicting Pests: Building Global Networks to Anticipate Plant Pest Invasions, 1950–2020
Doctoral research project by Erinn Campbell.
Keywords: invasive species, plant quarantine, pesticides
