Engagement & Impact

TV and Radio

In March 2020, David Christian Rose contributed to BBC Radio 4’s ‘Farming Today’ programme on the Agriculture Bill.

In January 2020, David Christian Rose spoke on BBC Radio Oxford on the Environment and Agriculture Bills.

In October 2019, David Christian Rose contributed to the BBC Radio 4 broadcast ‘Farming Today’ where he talked about the Environment Bill.

In October 2019, David Christian Rose appeared on a documentary made by BBC South Today titled ‘Post-Brexit food prices and agricultural policy’.

Talks

In April 2021, David Christian Rose spoke at a Westminster Policy Forum event on the future of UK agricultural policy, talking about innovation, ELM, and the transition. 

In October 2020, Judith Tsouvalis gave a talk about inclusive post-Brexit agri-environmental policy design at a webinar of the Lancaster University Food Systems and N8 AgriFood webinar series.

In September 2020, David Rose delivered a seminar at the University of Reading on "Co-designing the ELMs in England: the why, who, and how of engaging 'harder to reach' stakeholders.

In March 2020, Sue Hartley delivered a talk to the US-UK Scientific Forum on Sustainable Agriculture (org. National Academy of Sciences and The Royal Society).

In February 2020, David Christian Rose presented a paper on co-design at the Soil Research Centre Annual Conference held at the University of Reading.

In February 2020, Ruth Little was an invited contributor to the “Food and Brexit – Where Now?” forum held at City University London.

In January 2020, David Christian Rose gave a talk at the 54^th Agricultural Club Conference, The University of Reading.

In November 2019, Sue Hartley presented  a paper on “Sustainable Food – A Systems Approach for EU Policy” at the White Rose Brussels Office.

In September 2019, David Christian Rose delivered a talk to the British Veterinary Association.

International Visits

During February 2020, David Christian Rose spent a week at UMEA University Sweden where he delivered talks on co-design and established contacts with scholars working on questions relating to our ESRC project. He also gave a seminar on co-design at the Swedish University of Agricultural Science.

Over two days in June 2019, Judith Tsouvalis delivered an invited talk and a seminar to academics and students at the Transdisciplinary Lab (USYS TdLab), Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, Switzerland. While there, she established valuable contacts with scholars working on participatory agricultural policymaking and co-design with farmers.

Participatory and Policy-Related Activities

In March 2021, Ruth Little, Judith Tsouvalis and Jose Fajardo-Escoffie participated in a workshop organised by Hannah Boles and  Hannah Lambie-Mumford (both based at the University of Sheffield) titled: "Challenges and opportunities for adopting participatory research evidence in policy development". The workshop brought together civil servants from different UK Government departments and academics with the aim of exploring the opportunities and challenges posed by using participatory methods and evidence in policy-making contexts. The workshop was funded by the University of Sheffield, with QR -funding received by Ruth Little and Hannah Lambie-Munford earlier this year for a short project enabling the exchange of knowledge and experience of participatory methodologies and inclusive policy research generated by findings from the ESRC project on post-Brexit agri-environmental governance and Lambie-Mumford's work on Vulnerability during COVID-19 (ESRC/UKRI funded).

In February 2021, Ruth Little, Jess Lyon, David Christian Rose, Judith Tsouvalis, José Luis Fajardo Escoffié, Charlotte Burns and Sue Hartley submitted an Evidence submission to the UK Parliament Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee on Environmental Land Management and the Agricultural Transition, where they emphasised the importance of the effective application of principles and practices of co-design focusing on trust and transparency of the process and outcomes; the importance of taking into account the existing motivations and priorities of land owners, the identification of agronomic-environmental 'win-wins', and early buy-in into the scheme; the importance of reaching out to harder to reach stakeholders of E.L.M.; and the importance of the provision for tailored, impartial advice accessible to all, farm visits, demonstration farms, and other knowledge-exchange activities. Download the full evidence submission here (PDF, 268KB).

In November 2020, Ruth Little appeared on Parliamentary TV providing evidence to the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee on Biodiversity and Ecosystems.

In September 2020, Ruth Little, David Rose, Judith Tsouvalis and Charlie Burns submitted an Evidence response to the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee, emphasising the importance of harder to reach farmers and land managers in the achievement of biodiversity policy goals.

In June 2020, David Christian Rose was an invited panellist to a Westminster Policy Forum event on the practicalities of the ELM scheme. This attracted 150 attendees.

In September 2019, Judith Tsouvalis was a participant in the Land Management 2.0 ‘Transforming and shaping the future of land management’ conference in London.

In July 2019, Ruth Little and Judith Tsouvalis participated in a 2-day Defra-Natural England Expert Panel Away Day, held at the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester. This involved farm visits to examples of successful farmer collaborations and discussions and on ELM co-design.

In May 2019, Judith Tsouvalis participated in an N8 Research Partnership event at the dairy iFarm in Cumbria.

In February and April 2019 , David Christian Rose and Judith Tsouvalis participated in a number of co-design workshops with farmers belonging to the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund organized by Defra. They acted as notetakers and supported the general running of the events.

Since 2018, Ruth Little and Judith Tsouvalis have been members of the Joint Defra-Natural England Expert Panel on Social Science Evidence for Improving Agri-Environment Outcomes (est. 2018). The panel meets 2-3 times per year and provides an important channel for the research team to influence policy making.

Webinars

In September 2020, Judith Tsouvalis participated in a webinar organized by Defra's Future Farming team on policy co-design.

In July 2020, Ruth Little delivered a webinar on inclusive design of agri-environmental policy for user-centred design specialists within Defra and the Cabinet Office to 32 attendees.

In May and June 2020, researchers from the ‘harder to reach’ project, which was conducted under the broader ESRC post-Brexit agri-environmental governance project, delivered two webinars to Defra on the importance of including harder to reach farmers and land managers in ELM co-design. The second webinar attracted over a hundred participants from Defra and its agencies.

Other activities

Ruth Little and Judith Tsouvalis showcased the project at the Cereals 2019 agricultural show in Lincolnshire in June 2019 (alongside the University of Sheffield's Institute for Sustainable Food). Ruth Little delivered a number of talks and Judith Tsouvalis involved farmers and others in a participatory activity that generated valuable data for the research.