Location

On demand
online

Cost

free/ from £149

Date

Immediate access

The feedback on this on demand course is 93% positive.

Location:

Online (self-paced learning in your own time on our learning platform)

Date:

This self-paced course is now available on demand.

To help you get a feel for what this online learning would be like, we have put together this video about the basics of our online learning platform, UKCEH LearnWorlds. (external link to YouTube)

Sign up online here now! 

4 weeks access from date of enrolment.  (credit & debit cards accepted for those who  are paying for the course)

Cost:

Professionals £199

Students £149

Official Development Assistance learners: the whole course is free.

Some sections of the course are free (see: Short Course Description), but we only issue a certificate following successful completion of the entire course.

Short course description:

This online course will introduce you to the threat posed by ground level ozone pollution to tropical agriculture. It will give you the knowledge, skills and confidence to identify when and where ozone is likely to pose a threat to tropical crops. You will gain the skills to identify ozone damage in a variety of tropical crop species, with comparisons to other threats (free). You will understand how and why ozone causes crop damage. Understanding the how and why allows formulation of practical management options, either through adaptation or mitigation. The training involves exercises with explicit focus on local contexts, allowing you to consider ozone as a current and future threat in your region. You will have the opportunity to demonstrate the knowledge and skills you have gained through answering multiple-choice quizzes. UKCEH have worked in partnership with CABI (Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International; https://www.cabi.org/) ) to develop this course.

Why do this course?

Ensuring a stable food supply is critical for human wellbeing. When producing food, crops are exposed to numerous threats such as pests and diseases, heat stress and drought. All of these can reduce crop yield and be economically costly to manage. Ground level ozone pollution is another, often overlooked, costly threat to agricultural production.

In the coming years, this gas will increase in concentration with damaging effects on plants including reduced crop yield and quality. The increase in ozone concentrations is happening all over the planet.  Scientists expect the effects to concentrate in important tropical and sub-tropical crop-producing areas e.g. sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia.

It is important that crop scientists, plant breeders, agriculture and food security students and researchers, policy makers and farmers are aware of the hidden threat that is ozone pollution. This course raises that awareness. It also provides the foundations as to how to manage and adapt to the ozone threat in an era of multiple environmental challenges. 

Learning outcomes:

  • You will have a better understanding of how, where and when ozone poses a threat to tropical agriculture
  • You will gain skills in identifying visible symptoms of ozone damage on a variety of crop species
  • You will acquire knowledge on practical management techniques to mitigate or adapt to the threat of ozone pollution
  • You will have increased awareness of resources that are available to help understand and tackle ozone pollution e.g. ICP Vegetation smartphone App
  • You will understand ozone risk assessment methodologies
  • You will become aware of options for improved stakeholder engagement

Target audience:

  • Crop scientists
  • Plant breeders
  • Agricultural / Food security / Air pollution policy makers
  • Students in Agriculture / Food Security
  • Farmers and Smallholders

Level:

You do not need any previous knowledge or skills in relation to ozone pollution in tropical agriculture.

Software and hardware requirements:

You will need a laptop, desktop or tablet and access to the internet. We recommend a minimum of 1MB download speed.

A second (external) screen will be an advantage, but is not essential.

Course developers:

Mike Perring, Plant Scientist and Ecologist, UKCEH

Felicity Hayes, Ecophysiologist and Plant Scientist, UKCEH

Josie Foster, Spatial analysis, UKCEH

Ingo Schüder, Commercial Training Manager, UKCEH

We gratefully acknowledge the provision of images by CABI and individual members of staff and their expertise fed in as part of the PlantWise programme.

Previous learner's feedback:

The feedback on this on demand course is 93% positive.

“I liked learning about the app for assessing possible ozone damage best, as I was not aware of it.” (Learner feedback, Mar 2022)

“I'm very happy that now I'm more informed about ozone in general and how plants react to this pollution. I enjoyed this course”.  (Learner feedback - Mar 2022)

“The course was a good learning experience for starters and several doubts on the topic were cleared while attending the course.” (Learner feedback, Jan 2022)

“This course was so good, I found this very informative and want to enhance more skills regarding this topic.” (Learner Feedback Dec 2021)

"This was the wonderful course, I enjoyed the presentations very much." (Learner Feedback – Dec 2021)