16 March 2021

Building the UK’s NetZero workforce

Organised by:

SCI's Agri-Food Career Committee

Online webinar: 15:00 – 16.00 GMT

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Synopsis

This is the first part of a series of 3 webinars. For related events, please scroll down to the bottom of this page.

In 2019 parliament passed legislation to make the UK a ‘net zero’ emitter by committing to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050. 

Net zero focuses on two key areas; reducing emissions across all sectors and removing carbon from the atmosphere. Within the agri-food sector, some activities include managing the land effectively, developing novel production systems, improving logistics and calculating the carbon footprint of agricultural products.

This session will briefly describe how the UK is working towards a net zero agri-food future and the contributions people from academia, industry and government are making to help reach that target.

 

Attendees
This event will be of interest to people looking to hear more about the agri-food sector, the challenge of net-zero and potential career paths. The committee aims to support people at all stages of their career - whether these are individuals looking for their first role or experienced professionals looking to transition into the agri-food sector.
Speakers

Dr Sajeev Mohankumar

The Carbon Trust

Sajeev is a Senior Associate at The Carbon Trust, UK. He works as an Agricultural Footprinting Expert helping agri-food companies develop strategies to reduce their environmental impact through product carbon footprinting, value chain analyses, science-based target setting, and testing viability of sustainable business models.
Sajeev has an extensive background in agriculture, having studied and worked in India, United States, Austria, Germany, and the UK. He has worked closely with academics, industry, and policymakers in various projects ranging from developing decision support tools for climate-smart agriculture, evaluating mitigation options for low-carbon transitions in agriculture, reducing diet-related emissions and improving the sustainability of agri-food supply chains. Sajeev has written policy briefs, co-designed a climate change exhibition, and is the co-founder of a climate change blog.

James Phillips

UKRI-BBSRC

James is a member of the business interaction team at BBSRC UKRI, the UK’s largest public funder of agri-food research. James’ role involves bringing together academic and industrial researchers to progress challenges in agriculture and food security.

James graduated from the University of Bath in 2008 with a 2:1 Masters degree in Chemical Engineering. He has since developed a broad background in the biological sciences through leading public-private partnerships to fund collaborative research into human health, livestock, crop science and smart technologies for horticulture and arables. James regularly engages with companies from across the entire supply-chain, from farmers and growers through to manufacturers and retail, and so has a strong interest in opportunities to support research that will deliver for the entire sector.

Charlotte Lacey

EVORA GLOBAL

Charlotte is a Sustainability Consultant at EVORA GLOBAL working to support companies to reach Net-Zero. She has experience in managing a diverse number of carbon, energy, water and waste projects across the retail, water and real estate industries.
Prior to EVORA, Charlotte worked at ALDI supporting the development of their environmental strategy, science-based net-zero target and scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions reporting framework.
Charlotte holds a Bachelor of Science honours degree in Geography from the University of Nottingham and specialised in Climate Change.

Dr Harry Langford

Crop Health & Protection Ltd

Harry is the Innovation Network Lead at CHAP and works to support and develop collaborative R&D across the agri-food supply chain and around CHAP's four key themes: intelligent agronomy, innovative crop health strategies, controlled environment agriculture and soil health. He also leads on CHAP’s New Innovations Programme, a collaborative business case development programme designed to exchange knowledge, overcome significant sector barriers and encourage sustainable growth. He is responsible for helping to develop CHAP’s net zero strategy and for developing and delivering agri-tech innovation projects that directly impact on agriculture’s net zero transitions are solely those of the author and do not represent the views of UKRI.


Programme

15:00
Introduction from the Agri-Food Career Committee
Dr Reuben Margerison, University of Manchester
15:05
Introduction to Net Zero and opportunities and challenges for the UK
Alastair Gibbons, BBSRC
15:10
Rethinking Agriculture: Paving the way towards low-carbon transitions
Dr Sajeev Mohankumar, The Carbon Trust
15:20
Net-Zero: a career goal for us all
Charlotte Lacey, EVORA GLOBAL
15:30
UK Research and Innovation: Working in partnership
James Phillips, UKRI-BBSRC
15:40
Driving agri-tech innovation for a net zero transition
Dr Harry Langford, Crop Health & Protection Ltd
15:50
Panel discussion
The full programme will be announced shortly. 
Fees
This event is free to attend

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Organising Committee
  • Alastair Gibbons, SCI / BBSRC
  • Cassie Sims, SCI / Lund University/ Max-Planck nGICE Centre
  • Luca Steel, SCI / Rothamsted Research Institute
  • Reuben Margerison, SCI / University of Manchester
  • Joe Oddy, SCI / Rothamsted Research Institute
  • Paul Rous, SCI / Rothamsted Research Institute/ Shake Climate Change, Cranfield University, Yara International
  • Juniper Kiss, SCI / University of Southampton
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Email: conferences@soci.org