Theresa Saini is a 2024 Commonwealth Masters Scholar (selected from over 45,000 applicants) who completed her MSc in Plant Genetics and Crop Improvement at the John Innes Centre in collaboration with the University of East Anglia, UK. Theresa has worked as a Research Assistant at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and as a volunteer Research Scientist at Chitedze Research Station in Malawi, focusing on cassava breeding, disease screening, tissue culture, and clean seed systems.
Theresa's Nuffield research addresses a critical sustainability challenge in Malawi's cassava sector. While cassava is the country's second most important staple crop - providing 70% of dietary calories alongside maize - current practices require sending diseased local varieties outside the country for cleaning before returning disease-free materials to Malawi for multiplication. Her research will investigate global best practices in establishing local capacity for producing clean, disease-free cassava planting materials, implementing effective field health management against Cassava Mosaic and Brown Streak diseases, and developing improved processing techniques to meet international market demand for high-quality cassava starch and dried chips.
