We’re absolutely thrilled to celebrate a fantastic achievement by Jacob Swindell, a promising AgriFoRwArdS PhD student. Jacob recently presented his very first research paper at the prestigious IAS’19 conference in Genoa, Italy, and to top it all off, he walked away with the highly prestigious Best Student Paper Award! What an incredible debut on the international stage.

Jacob’s paper, “Discrete Gaussian Process Representations for Optimising UAV-based Precision Weed Mapping“, showcases groundbreaking work in an area vital for the future of sustainable agriculture. His research explores how to enhance the efficiency and accuracy of drone-based weed mapping, ultimately enabling farmers to make informed decisions and minimise environmental impact.

This success is a testament to Jacob’s dedication and the collaborative spirit of his supervision. Jacob is co-supervised by Dr. Riccardo Polvara at the University of Lincoln and Dr. Marija Popovic from TU Delft, bringing together expertise from two leading institutions. We also want to acknowledge the crucial support from farmB, an innovative digital agriculture company, which co-sponsored Jacob’s PhD, enabling this impactful research.

Winning the Best Student Award at a conference of IAS’s calibre is a significant recognition of the quality and potential of Jacob’s work. It’s a proud moment for Jacob, his supervisors, and the AgriFoRwArdS CDT.

Please join us in congratulating Jacob on this outstanding achievement! We’re excited to see what he’ll accomplish next.