9 current PhD students and 18 completed PhDs

Christine Watson is Professor of Agricultural Systems at SRUC (Scotland’s Rural College, http://www.sruc.ac.uk/). She also holds a Guest Professorship  at SLU (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences). Christine’s research focuses on the management of micro and macro nutrients in organic and conventional agri-food systems at a range of scales from local to continental. She has a particular interest in crop diversification and the agronomic and environmental benefits this can bring in stocked and stockless farming systems.  Christine was President of the European Society for Agronomy (2014/2016), and President of the Association of Applied Biologists (2017/18). She is on the editorial board of the European Journal of Agronomy. Christine currently chairs the UK Expert Group on Organic Production.

2022/26 UKRI UK AgriFood4NetZero Network (Led by University of the West of England) Co-I

2022/26 Horizon Europe Developing Intercropping for agrifood Value chains and Ecosystem Services delivery in Europe and Southern countries (Intercrop Values) (Led by CIRAD) WP lead

2023/23 Natural England Managing the Quality of Organic Matter (OM) inputs to enhance Microbial Biomass and Activity. Lead.

2022 Natural England Setting minimum inputs of organic matter for agricultural land: What are the current quantities of organic inputs to soil under typical management practices? (led by NIAB) PI

2021 Defra Scoping Study on the Opportunities and Barriers of Improved Forages for Livestock Sustainability and Productivity (led by NIAB) PI

2021/2022 Defra Review of opportunities for diversifying UK agriculture through investment in underutilised crops (led by NIAB) WP Lead

2020/24 H2020 SFS Multi-actor and transdisciplinary development of efficient and resilient mixed farming and agroforestry systems (MIXED) (led by Aarhus University) WP Lead.

2019/22 SusCrop ERANET Increasing productivity and sustainability of European plant protein production by closing the grain legume yield gap (LegumeGap) (led by University of Helsinki) PI

I am a soil scientist interested in soil and nutrient management in organic and conventional agri-food systems at a range of scales from local to continental.  Current interests include:

• Developing "user friendly" soil health metrics
• Integrating grain and forage legumes into farming systems
• Optimising crop/livestock linkages for improved resource use efficiency
• Spatial and temporal crop mixtures for efficient nutrient use