Academic Research

As an ambitious Entrepreneur, experienced Soil Biologist and Drone Pilot, I focus on fusing the World’s of Soil Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Agriculture and Sustainable Food Production through the utilisation of Innovation and Technology.

Primary Objective:

To understand how Soil Food Webs work and interact with Climate Change, in combination with driving Innovation in Sustainable Food Production, leading to scientific and technological advancement, implementation and efficiency in building Sustainable Agricultural Stability across the Globe.

Secondary Objective:

To educate others in the importance of soil as limited and living resource, the hidden world of soil biology, how this biology plays a critical role in humanities sustainability and finding the balance between agriculture and nature.

Figure 1: "In the Field" - Large Scale Field Trail Experiments completed across the British Isles for the SSP, GRP, LSP and ARCZero Projects. See below for more details.
Figure 2: "Researching the Hidden World of Soil Biology" - Data sets created, analysed and published for multiple functional groups including: Microarthropods, Nematodes, Bacteria and Fungi.
Figure 3: "The Holistic Approach" - working directly and with other Researchers to integrate both methodologies and findings from Soil Biology into other Soil Science research spanning Chemistry and Physics.

Funded Research Projects:

The following are a list of large scale research projects completed across the British Isles as my quest in Soil Biology Research to answer “how do soil food webs work and interact with climate change” (Primary Objective – Part 1) developed and continues.

Soil Security Programme

Funding: £1,400,000

 

Funders: Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC), Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).

 

Project Length: 5 Years

 

Project Title: Controls on the stability of soils and the functioning under land use and climate change.

 

Contribution: Soil Biology Work Package (PhD Thesis).

 

Link: Please click Photo for Project details

Grassland Resilience Project

Funding: £1,200,000

 

Funders: Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), Department for Economy (DfE).

 

Project Length: 3 Years

 

Project Title: Biodiversity, Resilience and Food Security: Understanding the Role of Biodiversity in maintaining Food Production.

 

Contribution: Soil Fauna Work Package (PDRA in Soil Biology).

 

Link: Please click Photo for Project details

The Lincoln Soils Project

Funding: £300,000

 

Funders: University of Lincoln: Internal Postdoctoral Research Associate Scholarship.

 

Project Length: 3 Years

 

Project Title: Effects of Land Use Boundary and Nature Recovery Management Practices on in situ Soil Biological, Chemical and Physical compartments.

 

Contribution: Joint Project Manager – Soil Fauna Work Package (PDRA in Soil Biology).

 

Link: Please click Photo for Project details

The ARCZero Project

Funding: £185,000

 

Funders: European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DEARA).

 

Project Length: 1 Year

 

Project Title: Accelerating Ruminant Carbon to Zero.

 

Contribution: Lead Field Scientist (Soil Carbon and Bulk Density). 

 

Link: Please click Photo for Project details

Publications

As a Professional Researcher in Soil Biology to date I have published 6 peer reviewed scientific research papers in high impact scientific journals, with 4 further papers at various stages towards completion.

 

High impact Journals include:

 

– Nature.

– Nature Communications (x2).

– Scientific Data.
– Science of the Total Environment.

– Ecology and Evolution.

 

Link: Please click Photo for Publication List