Rajiv Sharma

Rajiv Sharma is a Research Fellow at Scotland's Rural College (SRUC), affiliated with the Principal’s Research Group Agriculture & Business Management and the Biorefining And Advanced Materials Research Centre. He holds a PhD in genome-wide association studies in barley from the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), completed in 2013. His research focuses on plant genetics, particularly barley diversity, genetic mapping, and crop improvement. He has led and collaborated on projects such as 'Testing For The Occurrence Of Adaptive Haplotypes In A Wild Relative Of Wheat' and 'Exploring Barley Diversity For Resilience And Sustainability,' funded by SRUC and the Scottish Government.

His academic career includes extensive contributions to understanding genetic diversity in crops, with a focus on traits like yield, disease resistance, and environmental adaptation. He has supervised PhD student A. Tuffin and contributed to international collaborations in plant genomics. His work spans peer-reviewed articles in journals like Nature Genetics and Plant Journal, addressing topics ranging from genome-wide association studies to exome sequencing of barley landraces.

Rajiv’s research has implications for sustainable agriculture, leveraging genomic tools to enhance crop resilience. His recent projects highlight exploration of genetic resources for climate-resilient crops and the impact of novel farming technologies on agricultural landscapes. He maintains active collaborations globally, contributing to advancing plant breeding and agricultural sustainability.