Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Sustainable Agriculture

Do you want to be part of a project aiming to improve the sustainability of agriculture?

Quantifying the potential of different agricultural practices and interventions to sequester soil carbon (SOC) and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is key for reaching Paris Climate Agreement goals and the Net Zero targets set by the UK government and the European Union. In the UK, this evidence is urgently needed to set the new Environmental Land Management (E.L.M.) agricultural policy post-Brexit and meet the rapidly growing global investment market for climate mitigation measures, including private businesses off-setting or in-setting (i.e. mitigating within supply chains).

There is growing interest in understanding the potential role of soil carbon sequestration in achieving net zero in agriculture. However, the large heterogeneity between farms in terms of their pedo-climatic conditions and specific management make generalization from empirical studies difficult. As a Postdoctoral Research Fellow, you will collate secondary data and build statistical and/or machine learned models to account for the context-specificity in predicting the impact of regenerative agriculture practices on soil health indicators, with emphasis on SOC. This would be a step-change in advice provided to farmers, and important for other practitioners, stakeholders and policymakers as well as research in the field of sustainable agriculture. The position is part of a Horizon Europe funded project NOVASOIL, which is developing business models for agricultural soils health across Europe, and the position will involve remote collaboration and European travel.

We are looking for an enthusiastic Postdoctoral Research Fellow, with a background in geography/environmental/biological/natural science and data analysis, to join the University of Leeds and help deliver the exciting work in Horizon Europe NOVASOIL project. You will be supervised and mentored by Prof. Guy Ziv (as Leeds project lead) and Prof. Pippa Chapman.