Two PhD students have received cash prizes from the Worshipful Company of Fruiterers to support their ongoing work.
The Fruiterers’ Awards Council hands out a number of prizes every year to encourage and support new entrants into the UK fruit industry at all levels. The awards are open to current undergraduates, recent graduates, masters or PhD students, winners receiving a certificate, a cheque for £1,000 and the opportunity to spend time with leading commercial fruit businesses and fellow prize winners.
At Fruit Focus this week, the Berry Gardens-sponsored Fruiterers’ Student Prize went to María Cárcamo De La Concepción, a student at the University of Greenwich whose PhD is focused on understanding the mechanisms controlling post-harvest changes in blueberry texture.
Richard Harnden, director of research at Berry Gardens, said: “This is an excellent project, which will provide new insights into how we can improve the texture of stored blueberries that will benefit consumers and encourage them to purchase more punnets of this delicious and nutritious fruit.”
The upper warden of the Fruiterers also presented a certificate and cheque to Tobias Lane, who is completing a PhD at the University of Reading based on a thesis titled ‘Apple production in a warmer world’.
A further prize will be presented to Javier Vidaurreta Krahe from the University of Nottingham later this year.
Chris Newenham, chairman of the Fruiterers’ Awards Council, said: “We were thrilled with the high calibre of applications received this year and selecting our successful winners was a difficult task undertaken with verve and rigour by our colleagues Professor Eve Mitleton-Kelly and Professor Geoff Dixon. We continue to be extremely grateful for the ongoing support of Berry Gardens with this award.”
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