University of Reading cookie policy

We use cookies on reading.ac.uk to improve your experience, monitor site performance and tailor content to you

Read our cookie policy to find out how to manage your cookie settings

Dr Laurence Smith

Dr Laurence Smith portait

Seminar leader for Global Sustainability: Challenges and Prospects (AP1A25, 20 credits)

Module leader for Agriculture in Practice (AP1A25, 20 credits)

Module leader for Agricultural Field Study Tour (AP2A20, 10 credits)

Sustainability Assessment of Food Systems (SAFS) Research Group Leader

Areas of interest

  • Environmental impact assessment though Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
  • Public goods evaluation
  • Optimisation modelling for impact assessment
  • Leverage points for behaviour change
  • Improving sustainability assessment methods

Postgraduate supervision

Laurence is happy to discuss proposals for postdoctoral fellowships or PhD studentships in any area of sustainability assessment, but particularly from those interested in understanding trade-offs between environmental, social, and economic domains, the impacts of farming system innovations on public goods, and “leverage points” for behaviour change.

He currently supervises the following postdoctoral researchers, research associates and PhD students:

  • Dr. Nina Röhrig: PATHWAYS – “Pathways for transitions to sustainability in livestock husbandry and food systems”
  • Dr Elizabeth Rowe: PATHWAYS – “Pathways for transitions to sustainability in livestock husbandry and food systems”
  • Dr Nicholas Davison: RELIVESTOCK – “Facilitating Innovations for Resilient Livestock Farming Systems”
  • Dr Tom Staton: REFOREST – “Agroforestry at the forefront of farming sustainably in multifunctional landscapes in Europe”
  • Ms Lisa Arguile: GFM – “Global Farm Metric – designing a common framework to understand, measure and monitor the state of farming systems.
  • Ms Sally Westaway: (Royal Agricultural University) Ecosystem service provision of trees on farms at a landscape scale. Funded by the John Oldacre Foundation and the Woodland Trust.
  • Mr William Barnes: (Aberystwyth University and Cellular Agriculture Ltd) Rethinking cultured meat media formulations.  Funded by a BBSRC FoodBioSystems studentship with CASE

Research centres and groups

Sustainability Assessment of Food Systems Research Group: https://www.researchgate.net/lab/Laurence-Smith-Lab-Sustainability-Assessment-of-Food-Systems-SAFS-Laurence-Smith

Background

Laurence’s interdisciplinary research interests cover three cross-cutting themes: Holistic Sustainability Assessment; the Impacts of Upscaling Farming Systems; and Behaviour change in Food Systems.  Throughout his work to date Laurence has led and co-led projects and work packages for a range of Government bodies and companies within Europe.

Laurence has worked extensively on assessing the sustainability impacts of upscaling food and farming systems fusing diverse indicators and multi-disciplinary tools to develop novel methodologies revealing the trade-offs between a range of sustainability criteria.

Currently Laurence is investigating the environmental and agronomic impacts of livestock systems as co-coordinator of the 9M EUR Horizon 2020 project PATHWAYS, working with farmers and industry to deliver useful policy recommendations for the future of livestock systems.

Laurence is an Editor for Frontiers in Animal Science and reviewer for Nature Communications, Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, and the International Society of Organic Agriculture Research (ISOFAR).

Professional bodies/affiliations

  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA).
  • Trustee of Biodynamic Agricultural College.
  • Research Associate at the Department of Biosystems and Technology (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences)

Websites/blogs

Sustainability Assessment of Food Systems (SAFS) Research Group Website:  https://www.researchgate.net/lab/Laurence-Smith-Lab-Sustainability-Assessment-of-Food-Systems-SAFS-Laurence-Smith

ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9898-9288

ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Laurence-Smith

Selected publications

Goglio, P., Knudsen, M.T., Van Mierlo, K., Röhrig, N., Fossey, M., Maresca, A., Hashemi, F., Waqas, M.A., Yngvesson, J., Nassy, G., Broekema, R., Moakes, S., Pfeifer, C., Borek, R., Yanez-Ruiz, D., Cascante, M.Q., Syp, A., Zylowsky, T., Romero-Huelva, M., Smith, L.G. (2023): Defining common criteria for harmonizing life cycle assessments of livestock systems. Cleaner Production Letters 4, 100035. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clpl.2023.100035

Westaway, S., Grange, I., Smith, J., Smith, L.G. (2023): Meeting tree planting targets on the UK's path to net-zero: A review of lessons learnt from 100 years of land use policies. Land Use Policy 125, 106502. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2022.106502 

Norton, L., Maskell, L., McVittie, A., Smith, L.G., Wagner, M., Waterton, C., Watson, C., (2022): Learning from innovative practitioners: Evidence for the sustainability and resilience of pasture fed livestock systems. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems 6, 1012691.  https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2022.1012691

Smith, L.G., Westaway, S., Mullender, S., Ghaley, B.B., Xu, Y., Lehmann, L.M., Pisanelli, A., Russo, G., Borek, R., Wawer, R. (2022): Assessing the multidimensional elements of sustainability in European agroforestry systems. Agricultural Systems 197, 103357. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2021.103357

Smith, L.G., Kirk, G.J.D., Jones, P.J., Williams, A.G. (2019): The greenhouse gas impacts of converting food production in England and Wales to organic methods. Nature Communications 10, Article No. 4641. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-12622-7.

Publications

Loading your publications ...