Katherine Denby

Professor Katherine Denby is a member of the Centre for Novel Agricultural Products (cnap.org.uk) in the Biology Department at the University of York. Her research focuses on plant disease resistance, novel bio-control strategies and crop improvement for disease resistance, yield and quality traits. Katherine’s work is focused on leafy vegetables, using large-scale data and new plant breeding techniques to meet the needs of UK and Global South agriculture and new production systems (e.g. vertical farming). She is an editor of The Plant Journal and the journal Plants, People, Planet, and an Executive Board member of the Global Plant Council.

Katherine is also an investigator on FixOurFood (fixourfood.org), a 5-year programme learning how to transform the UK food system to one which prioritises dietary health in young people and builds a more diversified food economy, sourcing produce from farmers that promote increased soil health, carbon sequestration and biodiversity. The programme aims to change food environments and menus in schools and nurseries, scale up new community food businesses and influence new models of regenerative farming and procurement – all leading to new metrics to guide transformation and new policies.