Professor of Agricultural Ecology and Head of Hill & Mountain Research Centre
Future Farming Systems
Hill & Mountain Research Centre
Research interests
After completing my PhD on the feeding ecology of the red-billed chough in 1990, I first worked on an investigation into the relationships between moorland vegetation and upland invertebrates at the University of Newcastle.
I then moved to the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) where I helped highlight the nature conservation importance of High Nature Value (HNV) farming systems throughout Europe.
I joined SRUC in 1995 and input to a wide variety of projects which aim not only to assess the relationships between UK and European farming systems and farmland biodiversity but to also highlight the likely implications of agri-environment and wider Common Agricultural Policy reform.
I took on the role of Head of SRUC’s Hill & Mountain Research Centre in 2013. Much of the Centre’s research is focused around SRUC’s Kirkton & Auchtertyre Research farms, near Crianlarich, which we are developing to be a platform for agricultural, environmental and agro-forestry research and demonstration.
I work closely with the Scottish Chough Study Group and colleagues at Aberdeen University and Glasgow University studying the conservation needs of the red-billed chough on the Hebridean island of Islay.
At a wider European level, I have been involved with the European Forum on Nature Conservation and Pastoralism (EFNCP) since its inception in 1988 and have been involved in the development of the HNV farming systems concept and highlighting the impacts of policy on HNV farming systems across Europe.