Meet Our Team
Dr Amanda Cavanagh (PI)
Research Group Convenor (Plant Productivity)
Amanda is a Senior Lecturer in Plant Biology at the University of Essex. Her research seeks to understand and improve plant growth and photosynthetic performance in changing environmental conditions such as rising carbon dioxide levels, and temperature stress.
Dr Muhammad Ashraf
Ashraf is a postdoctoral researcher working on the RIPE project. He is optimising SBPase to enhance crop photosynthesis in current and future climates. Ashraf earned his bachelor’s degree in plant sciences and master’s degree in plant biochemistry and molecular biology at Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad, Pakistan. He earned his PhD in plant developmental biology from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in Shanghai, China. His work has been published in Plant Cell and Environment, Journal of Environmental and Experimental Botany, and aBiotech.
Rory Malloch
Rory is an undergraduate student in Life Sciences at Essex, and a research technician in the lab since 2021. He has mastered the art of seed collecting, PCR, and enzyme assays. You can find him at the climbing wall when he's not in the lab.
Are you our next team member?
We are always happy to support applications for fellowship or scholarships to join our group. Check out the opportunities page or contact Amanda for more information.
Lab Alumni
PGR Students
Ece Imam Moustafa (PhD Student 2020-2024)
co-supervised with Prof. Tracy Lawson. CTP-FCR: “Improving cane crop resilience by overcoming the legacy effects on photosynthesis during the recovery from short-term combined stresses”
Teddy Gaskin (MSD, 2022-2024) “Surveying the C3-C4 landscape for positive selection in the Calvin Benson Cycle enzyme SBPase”
Postdoctoral Researchers
Dr Kamel Chibani (2020-23): RIPE Project - surveying species diversity in SBPase
Research Technicians
Myo Wai (2024) AKTP with G’s Growers: “Non-Invasive Technological Approaches to Crop Health Detection”
Lauren Kent (2023-24) Rank Prize: “Identifying mechanisms to boost crop productivity in a warming world”
Dr Alistair Leverett (2022-23) Gatsby Plant Science: “A transgenic approach to assess the balance between crop photosynthesis and photorespiration under elevated temperature”