Agriculture and Environmental Management research

Overview

The Agriculture and Environment Management (AEM) research group specialises in agri-environmental science, water resource management and climate change adaptation/mitigation.

The aim of the group is to guide government and industry policy in the UK and overseas. AEM is one of three research groups affiliated to the Centre for Agriculture, Food and Environmental Management (CAFEM) research that sits within the Agriculture, Food and Veterinary Sciences (AFVS) REF Unit, established in 2011.

The Research Group’s work is based within the School of Life and Medical Sciences (LMS). It includes members of the Agriculture and Environment Research Unit (AERU) and other staff from the Geography, Environment and Planning Subject Group.

Recent outputs submitted to REF 2021 include papers on adapting to climate change in agricultural ecosystems, irrigation systems in India, impacts of climate change on glacial geomorphology, and monitoring and modelling Arctic and Himalayan ice loss.

Research areas

There are a growing number of research students within this area and we can offer research provision supervision in a wide variety of topics including:

Research Area	Supervisors
Crop protection and environment, nutrients and crop nutrition	Prof.Kathy Lewis, Dr.Doug Warner, Dr Andy Green, Dr John Tzilivakis, Jemma Taylor
Agroecology, biodiversity and ecosystem	Prof.Kathy Lewis, Dr.Doug Warner, Dr Andy Green , Dr John Tzilivakis
Agriculture and whole farm ecological impact measurement, climate change mitigation and adaptation	Prof.Kathy Lewis, Dr.Doug Warner, Dr Andy Green , Dr John Tzilivakis
Interactions between agriculture and the environment including impacts of soil management and grazing strategies	Prof.Kathy Lewis, Dr.Doug Warner, Dr Andy Green , Dr John Tzilivakis
Chemicals in food and feed	Prof.Kathy Lewis, Dr John Tzilivakis
Pesticide composition, detection and monitoring	Prof.Kathy Lewis, Dr Andy Green
Mountain irrigation and farming systems, aquatic ecology, and freshwater quality and monitoring	Dr Ronni Edmonds-Brown, Dr Darren Crook, Dr Trevor Dube, Dr Gabriela Zemelka
Glaciology and glacier-climate dynamics	Dr Phil Porter, Dr Danni Pearce, Dr Alastair Curry, Dr Olly Bartlett
Quaternary palaeo-environments and landscape change	Dr Alastair Curry, Dr Poppy Harding
Periglacial and paraglacial systems, climate and hazards	Dr Alastair Curry, Dr Olly Bartlett, Dr Phil Porter
Animal movement and grazing behaviour	Dr Alla Mashanova

Research students

Please see our research students' supervisors and project titles below.

PhD students

Student	Principal supervisor	Project title
Badawy, Mohammed	Prof Kathy Lewis	Determination of the key parameters influencing dislodgeable foliar pesticide residues
Dillon, Kristen	Dr Ronni Edmonds-Brown	Translocation of slow worm populations and their population dynamics
Ifeoma, Carmilla Asiana	Dr Avice Hall	The role of bioavailable silicon in the reduction of epidemics of Podosphaera aphanis and infestation by pests
Tripathi, Sudhiri	Dr Darren Crook	An investigation into the resilience and sustainability of Suranga irrigation in the Western Ghats of India

MSc by research students
Student Principal supervisor Project title
Dackus, William Dr Phil Porter Short-term spatial and temporal patterns of glacio-fluvial sedimentation at Feegletscher, Swiss Alps

Student	Principal supervisor	Project title
Dackus, William	Dr Phil Porter	Short-term spatial and temporal patterns of glacio-fluvial sedimentation at Feegletscher, Swiss Alps

Alumni

Alumni	Supervisor	Project title
Pericli, Alexis	Dr James Jenkins	Understanding how national government in the Republic of Cyprus is responding to the issues of water scarcity and quality
Rees, Ann	Dr Ronni Edmonds-Brown	To Investigate the ecology of the European catfish (S. glanis) in UK waters and the development of an ecological framework in relation to policy and management implications
Wilkes, Thomas Ian	Prof Keith Davies Dr Doug Warner	Impact of reduced and zero tillage farming on soil biodiversity within cultivated agricultural land

Funding

Research grants and granted consultancy income have recently been secured from the RCUK Global Challenges Fund, the European Food Safety Authority, Horizon 2020, the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, Natural England, Defra, and a number of Charitable Trusts and Foundations.

Some notable recent research funding successes include:

European Commission’s Joint Research Centre funded work on Ecological Focus Areas (EFAs). Prof Kathy Lewis, Dr John Tzilivakis and AERU
EU’s Horizon 2020, FRAMEwork: Farmers clusters for realising agrobiodiversity management across ecosystems. Dr Doug Warner and AERU
The Pesticide Properties Database (PPDB) and its application, 2010-2021. AERU
Defra, 2019-21: Development of a UK pesticide load indicator. Prof Kathy Lewis, Dr John Tzilivakis
European Food Safety Authority, 2019-21: Toxicological and environmental risks from chemicals in food packaging. Prof Kathy Lewis, Dr John Tzilivakis
European Commission, 2018-20: Providing support in relation to the identification of approaches and measures in action programmes under Nitrates Directive (91/676/EEC). Dr John Tzilivakis and AERU
Natural England, 2017-20: Establishing a field-based evidence base for the impact of agri-environment options on soil carbon and climate change mitigation. Dr Doug Warner and AERU
Global Challenges Research Fund, 2017-19: Building Resilience programme funded project Disaster Relief in Bhutan. Dr Frances Harris.

Infrastructure

Research in the Agriculture and Environmental Management group is supported by the well-equipped state-of-the-art Science Building that houses cutting-edge research technologies and GIS capabilities, the Geosciences laboratory, the Physical Geography laboratory, and the Bayfordbury field station.

This includes onsite laboratories, an apiary, weather station, plant growth facilities, long-term habitat management schemes and detailed species records for botany, vertebrates, terrestrial invertebrates and aquatic invertebrates

Find out more about the Life and Medical Science facilities at the University of Hertfordshire.

Research degrees and post-doctoral fellowships

Applications are invited from candidates with good first degrees in environmental science, agriculture, climate, geoscience or other relevant disciplines to join projects as research students.

Projects are available for PhD and MSc by Research students in the areas mentioned above (but not limited to). Candidates from low and middle income Commonwealth countries can apply annually to the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission for a Commonwealth PhD Scholarship with support from AEM researchers.

In addition, we welcome Visiting Researchers and Postdoctoral Fellowships in the research areas above. We will gladly support and assist with fellowship applications to national and international research councils or charities.

The NFU Mutual Charitable Trust offers its annual Centenary Award, providing bursaries for postgraduate students in agriculture. The award provides annual bursaries of up to 75% of course fees for selected postgraduate students (Masters or PhD).

To learn more about the research degree programmes offered in agriculture and environmental management please visit the Doctoral College page.

We recommend that you discuss your proposed research with a member of academic staff of the Agriculture and Environmental Management Research Group before submitting your application. Please name the staff member when submitting your application.

For informal enquiries, please contact Dr Nicholas Troop, Psychology, Sport and Geography Research Degrees Tutor.

Download your application form. Please email application forms to Mrs Elizabeth Day, our research degrees administrator.