By Ryan Douglas
I’m now one month into my BARIToNE PhD and am loving it so far! We have world class facilities in the International Barley Hub, situated in the Crop Innovation Centre at the James Hutton Institute’s Invergowrie campus, and an amazing group of fellow PhD students within BARIToNE and other programs. At the end of October, we had our Induction Meeting, where we got the chance to learn more about the BARIToNE programme, understand the broader industry research and innovation landscape and of course get to know each other over a few drams!
After an early start we headed to the Scotch Whisky Research Institute (SWRI) in Edinburgh. SWRI conducts research and develops technology on behalf of their members – Scotch Whisky companies both large and small. We had a warm welcome from Professor James Brosnan, Director of SWRI and the BARIToNE programme. James spoke about SWRI and the research they do and gave us a sense of how our projects complement each other to collectively contribute to positive change in the wider industry. Professor Robbie Waugh, Director of the International Barley Hub, then delivered a presentation that took us back in time to the dawn of agriculture, to follow barley’s journey from the fertile crescent, across Europe to Scotland, where today it is our most important crop, both economically and culturally. David High, CTP Manager for BARIToNE, then outlined our comprehensive training programme. Over the next 4 years there will be conferences, seminars, away days, entrepreneurship competitions, public engagement events, a 3-month industrial placement, site visits, distillery tours and a suite of workshops to develop skills in research integrity, intellectual property, data analysis, thesis writing, career development and more.
We then had a guided tour of SWRI to see first-hand the type of work that they do across their 5 key research areas: sustainable raw materials, sustainable processes, optimised maturation, flavour management and consumer confidence. We saw miniature fermentation and distillation equipment where novel barley varieties and grains can be used to produce spirit; the analytical lab with mass spectrometry machines and a range of other equipment that can precisely quantify the chemical makeup of whisky (and tell whether a sample is genuine Scotch or not); a sensory lab where expert tasters can differentiate the notes and flavours of a whisky; and the second smallest whisky bond in Scotland, where miniature casks are used to understand and optimise the maturation process.
This set the scene for a supervisor-led introduction to the BARIToNE 2024 cohort projects. There are lab-based projects focusing on a range of genetic pathways including straw digestibility, germination, stress tolerance, seedling development, hybridisation and grain partitioning, through to field trials exploring the impact of intercropping, novel nitrogen sources, response to heightened CO2 and the genetic value of landraces. My own project will involve conducting field trials to investigate optimal N application rates and developing a crop model to predict barley growth and nitrate leaching under climate change.
After lunch we went to Rosebank distillery in Falkirk. Established on the banks of the Forth and Clyde canal in 1840, this historic distillery with its 108 ft chimney is an icon of the town but was forced to shut down in 1993 and in the decades that followed, fell into disrepair. In 2017, under the new ownership of Ian Macleod Distillers, work began to renovate the distillery which re-opened in June 2024. We were treated to an exceptional visitor experience through the open plan distillery – a harmony of sleek modern design overlaid with rustic original materials salvaged from the previous building. The chimney has been restored and new replicas of the three original stills have been built, and in the bond warehouse you can see the first casks from the new distillery – an emotive symbol of its revival. After the tour we got to sample some whisky – though unfortunately the stock from the old distillery is now too rare to give out as samples! Luckily, Ian Macleod Distillers also own Glengoyne and Tamdhu distilleries so we were able to sample these single malts instead, as well as nose some of the new make spirit from Rosebank. I asked the distillery manager, Malcolm Rennie, when they might start bottling the new whisky but he wouldn’t give anything away. “When it’s ready.”, was his response.
The next day we were back at the Crop Innovation Centre in Invergowrie for the BARIToNE consortium meeting which was a great opportunity to meet the PhD students who are now in their second and third years, as well as the academic supervisors and all the industry partners who make BARIToNE so unique among PhD programmes. We had talks from Nicholas Pitts (Supply Chain Sustainability Manager at SWRI) who discussed sustainability within barley supply chains and Jagadeesh Yeluripati from JHI who talked about Net Zero in the context of agriculture, as well as some of the unique and interesting work that JHI is doing in this space. All the third year PhD students presented their project progress to date while the second years presented posters. It was great to see such a broad range of projects and identify areas of overlap – I’m sure the knowledge and experience already aquired by these students will be invaluable in guiding our own research.
Following our induction meeting I feel welcomed into the BARIToNE family and am hugely excited for all the experiences and opportunities that the next 4 years will bring. A massive thanks must go to David High for organising, SWRI, Rosebank and JHI for hosting and to everyone who presented their work and insights over the two days. I look forward to the next meeting in May!