Dr Daniel Tolhurst on shaping genetics for a changing climate

I focus on understanding how individuals respond when placed in different environments, which is known as genotype by environment (GxE) interaction, and I have a particular interest on how this is becoming more complex with climate change.

In breeding animals and plants, it is about understanding how the environment and different management practices impact how they grow.

I don’t get attached to any system or species – my expertise is in the data itself, for example on genotypes, environmental and climactic factors. I’m about developing methods for improved breeding based on what we can determine from the data.

You might find a particular animal or plant grows well and is robust over a range of environments. It’s all about optimising that, so that as the climate becomes more variable, we’ve got animals and plants that are more resilient, particularly when change is unpredictable.

I always think of farmers and how my research can impact what they’re doing on the ground. A data point isn’t just a number to me – it’s a situation, it’s a farmer, it’s whatever challenge they’re struggling with, and how improved genetics in their animals or crops can improve their yields and their livelihoods.

My work is computer-based, but a good friend always said I shouldn’t be afraid to get my boots dirty – and my first motivation will always be helping farmers. Just last week I was in Sweden looking at forages for a breeding company that I’m collaborating with. The research is only as good as it can be impactful.

I was set for science because I have a curious mind. I like solving problems and working towards something that has impact.

Where I grew up in South-East Australia is dairy farming country, so I was exposed to agriculture from an early age.

I did an undergraduate degree in medical mathematics at the University of Wollongong, and in second year I had an inspiring lecturer in statistics who was very passionate, talking about farming and agriculture and how statistics underpins a lot of the decisions that are made there. He later happened to become my first boss. 

After graduation in 2014, I started working at the University of Wollongong as a research associate on projects that were directly impacting Australian grains growers. These projects need statistical support and data analysis, and that’s where my skills sat.

One of my first tasks was to liaise with farmers in large-scale farms in the vast Western Australian outback to understand how we could work with them, and more importantly, how we could provide best-practice statistics to improve their yields. I did that for about six years, all over Australia: Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria. 

I visited the Roslin Institute in 2018, in my first international trip to another institute, to attend a symposium celebrating the work of Robin Thompson, a pioneer in computational genetics and statistics. Researchers then invited me to stay for four months, working on genomic prediction methods for wheat – using the DNA of plants to predict their merit, such as their yield. I got to know Edinburgh, experienced the festival fringe, and just loved the city.

Soon after, I was offered a position, but instead I wanted to do a PhD, here at Roslin. 

A lot of my work was statistical and data-focused, whereas being here at Roslin gave me exposure to quantitative genetics, and I was able to put the two together. Very few people have expertise in both. I didn’t just want to do a PhD, I wanted to do it at the Roslin Institute.

I arrived just as the Covid-19 pandemic emerged, but I was relatively lucky in my circumstances and was able to be productive.

I had a scholarship from Bayer Crop Science, working on their cotton breeding programme in the US. I was developing methods that have since been applied in plants and also in animals.

I brought in data from climate stations and soil information to work in with genetics, to help select varieties that could grow in different regions, and understand how stable those would be if conditions changed. 

My innovation fellowship, which I began immediately following my PhD, is all about translational research. I have a global network of industry and academic partners in continents around the world, and a multi-tier approach: I have a core of research that’s five-ten years away from putting into practice, another that’s one or two years away, and others that can be put into practice by breeding companies now.

It works in two directions – by working with industry I can deliver direct impact to society but I am simultaneously learning where they are moving, so I can direct my research accordingly. That to me is an innovation fellowship because I collaborate with industry or end users.

When my fellowship ends this winter, I aim to begin my own senior fellowship which I hope to fund through my industry network.

To me there’s no hard line between work and life outside of work. I’m very passionate about what I do, and it occupies my thoughts a lot. I enjoy travelling and seeing new places, which I am fortunate to do in my job, and in a way, that’s work-life balance of its own. 

I love living in Edinburgh, and since moving here I even gave Aussie rules football a go, something I never did in Australia. I’m the ‘international uncle’ to my young niece and nephew, so I prioritise video calling them, given the big time differences.

I’d invite the Hollywood actor Harrison Ford, as I’m a big fan of his old movies. I’d have him along with the physicist Albert Einstein, and sit them down with my mum. We’d eat her lasagne, and I reckon she’d outshine the two of them.