Research placements

Our initial Twinning project with ZNU has laid the ground for joint research between Durham Biosciences (led by Dr Adrian Brennan and Dr Jo Hepworth) and ZNU Biology (led by Prof Viktor Lyakh and Prof Iryna Poliakova) Departments. Since then, we hosted 4 ZNU Master students in 2024 and 2025, who conducted their research placements at Durham, focusing on resilience and evolution of crops such as flax and sunflower. These crops are extremely important for Ukraine agriculture, and Ukraine is a major global producer of sunflower oil that is exported around the world. Our joint research with ZNU aims to establish the genetic basis of heat and cold resistance of crops, bred in Ukraine and ideally suited to local environmental conditions in Ukraine. Given the importance of these oilseed crops for the Ukrainian economy, our project has a strong potential to positively contribute to agriculture and the economy of Ukraine.