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The bequest to ����Թ� was made by Dr John Trevor Williams, who was renowned as one of the “fathers” of the so-called Doomsday Vault, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway. This is where millions of seeds are stored for posterity deep beneath the Arctic permafrost. ��Dr Williams, the former Executive Secretary, then Director of the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources in Rome, was also a graduate of ����Թ�, achieving a PhD in Agricultural Botany in 1962. ��

Dr Katherine Steele, Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Crop Production at the School of Natural Sciences explains the significance of the poly-tunnels saying:��

“The new build and refurbished tunnels at the Henfaes Research Centre should both last up to 10 years, providing opportunities for more students working on agricultural botany-based projects.��

They are particularly important for testing different cultivars to disease resistance. The tunnels reduce the chance of non-planned disease spores entering from the environment and infecting test plants.” ��

During his career, Dr Williams made an enormous contribution towards conserving the genes of the world’s food crops. At the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources in Rome, he led a programme of collecting, conserving and sharing the crop varieties that farmers had grown for centuries – the genetic resources needed for plant breeding and crop improvement.��

At the time, farmers were adopting new, higher-yielding seeds and many traditional crop varieties risked becoming extinct. One way to preserve genetic diversity was to place seeds in a gene bank for long-term conservation. By the time he stepped down as Director, there were more than 1,000 gene banks or collections around the world.��