Category: Blog

  • Blog

    Exploring Neurodiversity through an intersectional lens

    To truly understand and embrace Neurodiversity, we must examine how it intersects with other identities, such as race, gender, and LGBTQIA+ identities. At the John Innes Centre, our Neurodiversity Project aims to understand and acknowledge these intersections, shedding light on the unique challenges faced by individuals who navigate multiple layers of marginalisation.

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  • Blog

    Career Stories: Bridging science and policy – my professional placement journey

    Our Strategic Engagement and the Communications teams recently hosted Harshanie Dasanayaka, a Microbes, Microbiomes and Bioinformatics (MMB) programme PhD student funded by the UKRI Medical Research Council (MRC). Harshanie’s professional placement helped her delve deeper into how policy is informed by science, and she shared with us what she had learnt. We caught up with...

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  • Blog

    Top tips for Neuroinclusive communication

    Embracing Neurodiversity is a crucial part of creating an inclusive environment where everyone can thrive, regardless of their cognitive style. That’s why we have developed an internal Neuroinclusive Communications Guide as part of our Understanding, Valuing and Celebrating Neurodiversity Project. Read on for four top tips from our guide that anyone can adopt to promote Neuroinclusive communication.

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  • Blog

    Five favourite trees

    James Piercy, communications and engagement officer, works with our scientists to share their work and research with different audiences, including engaging school groups with plant and microbial science. He is also passionate about nature and in this blog, hot on the heels of the Woodland Trust’s Tree of the Year 2024, he shares the trees that he loves most in Norwich.

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  • Blog

    How, and why, do plants and microbes interact?

    Microbes are found almost everywhere on Earth, and have evolved over the past 3.5 billion years to survive and thrive in diverse habitats, including in and on plants. The relationship between plants and microbes is complex; some microbes are beneficial, whilst others can cause devastating diseases.

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  • Blog

    A pint of the living dead – making beer with zombie plants

    One day, a few years ago, a local teacher found something strange in his garden. The story that follows is one of plants, beer, bacteria, insects and ZOMBIES! For this Halloween special edition blog Dr Sam Mugford, research assistant, reveals the strange science of phytoplasmas, a group of plant-infecting bacteria with very peculiar properties, and how he made his own delicious zombie beer…

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