Niab’s Head of Data Sciences, Professor Ji Zhou, has been awarded Niab’s annual Bentley Nelstrop Medal for Enterprise and Innovation. The annual in-house award, initiated by former Niab Trustee Bentley Nelstrop, celebrates exceptional contribution to innovation and enterprise by an individual or a team from within Niab.
He was nominated by his colleagues for his dedication and excellence in making a significant impact to the organisation, moving Niab ahead of many other UK agricultural institutes in AI and plant phenotyping, while growing Niab’s Data Science team from one person in 2020 to six permanent staff and many students in 2025.
Accepting the award, Professor Zhou said: ‘I’m honoured to receive this staff award and I want to thank my colleagues who nominated me and also Bentley for selecting me from a very strong field of candidates.’
Niab CEO, Professor Mario Caccamo explained why Ji was nominated: ‘This is a well-deserved award for Ji. He has played a crucial role in pioneering digital phenotyping and AI-driven approaches across many projects and departments at Niab, and the UK research sector as a whole. His work in high-throughput field phenotyping, remote sensing, and machine/deep learning has led to substantial benefits to both Niab and the wider scientific community.
‘Ji has significantly enhanced Niab’s reputation through collaborations with institutions across Europe, Africa, Asia, and the US. His contributions extend to grant review panels for numerous funding bodies and leadership in major infrastructure projects, such as PhenomUK. His work exemplifies the values of Niab.’
