My research focuses on how land and soil systems can be managed to support sustainable outcomes for food production, climate mitigation, and water resources. With a background in both engineering and environmental science, I work across disciplines to understand how soil systems function and respond to human and environmental pressures and find sustainable solutions. Whether its carbon locked in peatlands, nutrients cycling in farmlands, or green infrastructure in urban areas – I’m interested in how we can make best use of our land resource and improve soil health to deliver multiple ecosystem services and better outcomes for people and planet.

A key strand of my work involves process-based modelling to explore soil-plant interactions and their responses to environmental change. I am a core developer of the N14CP model, which links carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycles in terrestrial ecosystems and has been extensively applied across natural and agricultural systems and has played a role in supporting policy creation and evaluation, land management and business decisions.

Beyond academia, I actively contribute to advancing soil sustainability through cross-sector collaboration. I led the formation of a global working group on soil health with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and lead-edited The Business Case for Investing in Soil Health with over 30 contributors from five continents. I also co-founded the Soils in Planning and Construction Task Force – a cross-sector initiative promoting the integration of soil sustainability into planning policies and development practices.

Soil recovery: Advancing understanding and prediction of soil function recovery following degradation

Funded by: Royal Society | Duration: 2025–2027

Supported by the Royal Society, this International Exchange fosters collaboration between plant-soil nutrient cycling researchers at Lancaster University and soil pedogenesis experts at ETH Zurich. The project aims to integrate complementary knowledge and modelling approaches to advance our understanding of how soils recover from degradation.

CARRI - Change at the Reactive Riparian Interface

Funded by: NERC | Duration: 2022–2026

Led by Marc Stutter (James Hutton Institute), this international, interdisciplinary project explores the critical and climate-sensitive interface between land and water—riparian zones. Using a combination of fieldwork, laboratory analysis, and modelling across multiple catchments, the project involves research partners in Scotland (James Hutton Institute), England (Lancaster University), Sweden (SLU), and Germany (UFZ).

Knowledge Transfer Partnership - Lake District Farmers

Funded by: Innovate UK | Duration: 2023–2025

This project is developing a route map towards a net-zero meat product for selected farms supplying Lake District Farmers Ltd (LDF). It focuses on establishing soil carbon baselines, assessing on-farm carbon reduction potential—including soil carbon—and co-creating an accounting framework to capture both financial and non-financial impacts of transitioning to net-zero. LDF is a premium meat wholesaler working with over 50 upland farms in Cumbria, committed to quality and sustainability.

QUENCH: A network linking the Quality of Urban Environments with Nature Connectedness and Health

Funded by: NERC | Duration: 2021–2022

As Co-Principal Investigator, I collaborated with colleagues at Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster Medical School, and the University of Liverpool (Departments of Psychology and Geography). The network brought together a diverse range of researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to explore how urban ecosystems can enhance nature connectedness and human health, while delivering wider environmental benefits.

CROPBOOSTER-P: Boosting Global Crop Yield for Food and Nutrition Security

Funded by: Horizon 2020 | Duration: 2018–2022

Coordinated by Wageningen Research, this EU-wide initiative identified strategic opportunities for enhancing crop yield, nutritional value, and sustainability. As a Work Package lead, I led an international team assessing the economic, social, and environmental implications of emerging crop and farming technologies, helping shape future research and policy directions.

Rurban Revolution: Can ruralising urban areas through greening and growing create a healthy, sustainable and resilient food system? Funded by the Global Food Security Programme, BBSRC, ESRC, NERC and Scottish Government, 2019-2021

Funded by: Global Food Security Programme (BBSRC, ESRC, NERC, Scottish Government) | Duration: 2019–2021

As Principal Investigator, I led this interdisciplinary project alongside colleagues at Lancaster University (Pentland Centre), the University of Liverpool, and Cranfield University. The project assessed the potential of “rurbanisation” – bringing greening and horticultural growing into cities – to transform food systems. It examined impacts on:

• Health and wellbeing (e.g., fruit and vegetable intake, stress reduction)
• Food production (e.g., yield, quality, safety, resilience)
• Ecosystem services within and beyond urban environments

Soil-Value: Valuing and enhancing soil infrastructure to improve societal sustainability and resilience 

Funded by: EPSRC Early Career Living With Environmental Change Fellowship | Duration: 2016–2021

This five-year fellowship advanced understanding of soils as vital infrastructure supporting food production, water regulation, and carbon cycling. It aimed to assess the societal value and resilience of soils under changing management and climate conditions.
As part of the fellowship, I was seconded to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, where I led efforts to engage businesses in soil sustainability, co-developing a global business case for investing in soils

Soil Natural Capital valuation needs for agri-food businesses

Funded by: NERC (Valuing Nature Programme) | Duration: 2018

This project examined how a natural capital approach could support agri-food businesses in valuing soil. It reviewed existing tools, identified gaps, and outlined how ecosystem service-based valuation of soil could inform sustainable supply chain decisions, despite the challenges of linking soils directly to marketable goods or services.

UN International Resource Panel Scientific Panel Member (2025 – Present)

Editorial advisory board member, Sustainability, CellPress Journal (2024 – Present)

Member of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council’s Sustainable Agriculture and Food Strategic Advisory Panel (2024 to present)

AgriZero+ Program Advisory Board Member (2022 to present)

Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) Nutrient Management Expert Group member (2021-2023).

Advisor for Agricultural & Land Management working group, Verra (2019-2022)

Strategic Advisory Team member and Chair of the Early Career Forum for the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council’s Engineering Theme (2018-2021) 

I am also passionate about raising wider public awareness of the fascinating world of soils and their importance for sustainability. My team and I regularly share our work through accessible articles, podcasts, and other media if you’re a non-soil expert and would like to learn more:

• Can cities help us fight climate change? The Guardian podcast
• How your festival wee could disrupt soil health and water quality
• It’s Time to Make Cities More Rural
• How filling the UK’s unused land with fruit and veg could help make us and our environment healthier - and help fight inequality
• UK could grow up to 40% of its own fresh fruit and vegetables by using urban green spaces
• Farm vehicles now weigh almost as much as heaviest dinosaurs – here’s why that’s a problem
• The overlooked importance of urban soils
• UK land now stores 7% more carbon than 300 years ago – what that means for the environment
• Do we only have 60 harvests left?
• Urban farming: four reasons it should flourish post-pandemic
• Carbon catch-22: the pollution in our soil