PhD in Engineering

Plants and trees are vital to the UK’s economy, ecosystems, and climate goals, providing an estimated £15.7 billion annually in environmental and economic value and playing a crucial role in achieving Net Zero by 2050. In partnership with Plant Health at Defra, this project introduces a novel AI-driven framework to protect the nation’s plant life by detecting and predicting threats such as pests, diseases, and environmental stress in line with the UK Plant Biosecurity Strategy. The project harnesses computer vision, deep learning, and large language model technologies to create advanced, multimodal predictive tools for plant health monitoring.