"The competitiveness of Europe in the field of sustainable agriculture programs has been drastically compromised due to a serious drift of academic expertise on the development of novel inoculants away from Europe’s to major USA Agricultural companies where the multidisciplinary skills required for this work is available in single institutions. ERA is therefore at serious risk of becoming non-competitive with North America where there is critical mass and excellent training in this area. To regain the European leadership in this field there is an urge to generate a critical mass of scientific workforce with the required advanced multidisciplinary training. The research project will use Sinorhizobium meliloti as a model bacterium used in inoculums and will investigate, at the molecule level, the role natural cryptic self-mobilisable plasmids from plant associated rhizobacteria have on the interactions between these bacteria and crops with a view to design novel inoculums that can be used for sustainable agriculture. This IEF project is highly complementary to the applicant’s existing research skills and her extensive knowledge on advanced technologies for the study of bacterial molecular genetics, protein-target interactions and bacterial gene transfer will, in return, bring new expertise to the University of Nottingham. This type of project cannot be achieved with the expertise of a single institution but can be attained through establishment of this IEF fellowship for advance complementary multidisciplinary training where both the host institution and the visiting fellow will benefit from the exchange of expertise. The topic has been freely chosen by the fellow in collaboration with the host institution with the aim to maximise her employability, competence diversification and lifelong learning as an independent researcher."