Postdoctoral Research Associate

Gabriel is a landscape ecologist. His research interest sits at the intersection of environmental science, natural and agricultural systems and aims to understand the processes that influences biodiversity conservation, climate and land use change. Gabriel uses modelling techniques to predict the impact of changes in land use and management practices on the environment.

He is currently a postdoctoral researcher on the Food Systems Equality (FoodSEqual) project which focuses on the co-production of  healthy and sustainable food systems in disadvantaged communities.

Imelda is a soil scientist with an in-depth knowledge of cereal-legume intercropping.

She is currently working on the EU LEGUMINOSE project: Sustainable agriculture through legume-cereal intercropping

Matheus is a Postdoctoral Researcher visiting from the Department of Soil Science, University of São Paulo, Brazil. He is in receipt of a fellowship from the São Paulo Research Foundation.

Matheus’s research will investigate the influence of re-carbonisation of artisanal and small scale gold mining soils with nanobiochars on the fate of mercury.

Alex's PhD was on the impact of climate change on soil respiration and resilience, funded by a Commonwealth Scholarship.

He later worked as a postdoctoral research associate on the BBSRC funded DIVERSE project and a BBSRC project on the fermentation of food waste.

He is currently funded by a UK-Brazil-Africa Climate-Smart Agriculture Partnership to undertake a scoping project on cocoa improvement using climate resilient genotypes and soil amendments.

Exploring the role of biochar to increase the sustainability of UK farming businesses. Funded by the Wilkie Calvert PhD Studentship

Optimizing soil nitrogen (N) in babyleaf salad crops for sustainable crop production. Funded by a BBSRC studentship with CASE support from the Waitrose Agronomy Group

Ellie is also eployed as a part time technician on the EU LEGUMINOSE project: Sustainable agriculture through legume-cereal intercropping

Anaerobic fermentation of food waste to connect fork to farm and store carbon in soils. Funded by a BBSRC FoodBioSystems studentship with CASE support from Agriton

Carbon Use Efficiency in Metal Contaminated Soils. Self funded

Breaking new ground: using X-rays to study how roots penetrate through soil parent materials. Funded by a BBSRC FoodBioSystems studentship

Effect of Intercropping on soil health. Self Funded.

Towards net-zero chocolate: Carbon and nutrients budgets for compost use in cocoa farms. Funded by a BBSRC FoodBioSystems studentship

Green Carbon Sequestration: Using plants to fix C(O2) deep under ground. Funded by a NERC SCENARIO studentship

Manipulating the microbial legacy response to organic amendments for soil nutrient bioavailability. Funded by a BBSRC FoodBioSystems studentship with CASE support from Future Biogas Limited

Do microplastics transfer potentially toxic elements from water to soil? Funded by a NERC SCENARIO studentship

Remediation of contaminated soils using biochar. Funded by The Petroleum Technology Development Fund

Sarah's research interests include:

• Agriculture reversion to heathland - impacts on soil characteristics and function

• Soil organic matter and carbon sequestration

• Use and effects of soil amendments in horticultural systems

• Citizen science and community engagement

She is currently working on a GCRF funded project which aims to develop an evidence base to support the wider adoption of Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) in Andhra Pradesh, India

Developing soil health indicators to inform land management decisions and increase crop yield and quality. Funded by a BBSRC studentship with CASE support from the Waitrose Agronomy Group

Impact of extreme rainfall events on the mobility of potentially toxic elements in floodplains. Funded by a NERC SCENARIO studentship with CASE support from British Geological Survey

How do earthworms and soil microbial communities interact to determine the fate of organic matter amendments to soil? Funded by a NERC SCENARIO studentship

Factors affecting soil carbon storage at depth in agricultural systems in the UK. Funded by the Indonesian Government

Lumbani worked on a Global Challenges Research Fund ‘Agri systems research to enhance livelihoods in developing countries’ project entitled 'Remediation of Cocoa Soils in Ghana as a Route to more Sustainable Cocoa Production'

Yiran supported laboratory analysis for the BBSRC DIVERSE project which includes soil molecular ecology and soil biogeochemistry

Dr Xin Shu joined the group in 2018 as a postdoctoral researcher working on the DIVERSE project which is funded by BBSRC. This project is testing the idea that cover crop green manure mixtures are a tractable means to increase the diversity of carbon compounds entering soils and leads to a greater diversity of enzymes produced by the soil microbial community, and, in turn improve soil functional resistance and resilience to environmental challenges.

Alfonso's postdoctoral research in our group investigated whether the addition of biochar to nutrint defficient acidic tropical soils alters the availability of macro- and micronutrients to leafy green crops used in Ghanaian urban horticulture 

His research was funded by a Xunta de Galicia Postdoctoral Fellowship and a Research England GCRF Strategic Fund Development of Equitable Partnerships Project

Sean supported laboratory analysis for a GCRF funded project to investigate the impact of composts and biochars on the fertility of Ghanaian cocoa plantations.

Can we make better use of crop residues? Funded by a SAGES/Faculty of Science studentship and the Waitrose Agronomy Group

Investigating the Contribution of Abiotic Stresses to the Ghanaian Cocoa Yield Gap. Funded by the Ghanaian Cocoa Board

Do competitive plant x plant interactions impact rhizosphere microbial community structure and function? Funded by a BBSRC Food Security DTP studentship

Developing a sustainable method for the determination of organic contaminants from polluted sites. Funded by an EPSRC TSBE DTP studentship