Background: Cereals are the most important staple foods, supplying about 50% of global dietary energy. Cereal crops were domesticated from their wild progenitors thousands of years ago. In their wild form, mature grains naturally fall from the plant in a process called shattering. Early farmers collected and replanted wild cereals with rare mutations that prevented this seed loss, allowing the grains to stay attached. Cultivating these non-shattering grains was an innovation that marked the beginning of agriculture and greatly influenced human society. After harvest, the edible grain must be separated from the rest of the plants in a process known as threshing. Thus, non-shattering and easy-to-thresh seeds were among the earliest traits selected during cereal crop domestication and improvement. Wheat and barley were both domesticated in the Fertile crescent over 10,000 years ago. In wheat, changes in a gene known as Q (from the APETALA2 family) led to both non-shattering and free-threshing grains. In barley, non-shattering is controlled by two genes named non-Brittle Rachis 1 (Btr1) and Btr2, while the gene responsible for easy threshing remains unknown. Identifying the genes that control these important domestication traits, and understanding how they work together, is crucial for tracing the history of crop domestication and for improving these traits in wild or less domesticated cereals. This will help meet the challenge of increasing global food production by 60% by 2050 to feed the rising world population. Aims/Objectives: In this PhD project, the student will characterise the candidate genes controlling shattering and threshability in barley and investigate their genetic interactions. The student will also determine whether these genes work the same or different way in barley and wheat. Methods/Approach: We have several barley mutants carrying mutations in AP2 and Btr, mutants with altered threshing, as well as their double mutants. The student will further use CRISPR-Cas9 to edit specific genes relevant to the project. Using these genetic materials, the student will first validate whether the candidate genes are involved in shattering and/or threshability using phenotypic assays. Then, the student will precisely characterise these mutants at the developmental, cellular and molecular levels to determine how these genes co-ordinately regulate shattering and/or threshability. This 4yr PhD project is a competition jointly funded by The James Hutton Institute and the University of Dundee. This opportunity is open to UK students and will provide funding to cover a stipend and UK level tuition. International students may apply, but must fund the difference in fee levels between UK level tuition and international tuition fees. Students must meet the eligibility criteria as outlined in the UKRI guidance on UK and international candidates. Applicants will have a first-class honours degree in a relevant subject or a 2.1 honours degree plus Masters (or equivalent).