Professor Liz Baggs

Dean of Research, College of Medicine & Veterinary Medicine

Biography

Background

I am Dean of Research for the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, and Professor of Food and Environmental Security. I joined the University of Edinburgh in 2017, as Deputy Director for the Global Academy of Agriculture and Food Systems. I undertook my PhD at the University of Edinburgh, after which I held a lectureship and BBSRC Wain Research Fellowship at Imperial College,  and then a NERC Advanced Fellowship and the Established Chair of Soil Science at the University of Aberdeen. I was Head of School of Biological Sciences at the University of Aberdeen for five years prior to returning to Edinburgh.

I am a soil biogeochemist, and develop and apply stable isotope approaches to investigate plant-soil-microbe interactions and to distinguish between different microbial processes, particularly in relation to carbon dynamics and greenhouse gas production in soils. I have been in continuous receipt of funding since 2000 for this research, and have supervised over 60 PhD students.

I have held a variety of strategic leadership and advisory roles in higher education and research, including with UKRI, governments, and international research organisations and funders. I am a past President of the British Society of Soil Science, and am a Commissioner for the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission.

 

Research Projects

Research Projects on Edinburgh Research Explorer

Qualifications

PhD Soil Science, University of Edinburgh

MSc Agronomy, University of Nottingham

BSc (Hons) Physical Geography, University of Bristol

Open to PhD supervision enquiries?

Yes

Areas of interest for supervision

I welcome approaches from prospective PhD students (UK and international), particularly those interested in studying:

plant-soil interactions

plant genotype influences on soil processes

soil microbial pathways to greenhouse gas emissions

soil health

soil carbon sequestration

 

Current PhD students supervised

Abahan Majumdar - Impacts of climate change on soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics and crop productivity in the rice-based wetland agroecosystems in Bangladesh.

Apisit Boupai - Does crop genotype utilisation of soil organic matter lower greenhouse gas emissions from soil?

Asa Dant - Regenerative agriculture – fix or fiction for soil health?

Chenzhe Xu - Assessment of biochar longevity and carbon dioxide removal potential using modelling.

Dylan Edgar - Carbon Agri-Tools: Accounting and decision support systems for calculating emission.

Han Zheng - Determining the microbial source of nitrous oxide emissions following addition of cover crops.

Haosheng Yang - The effect of drought and re-wetting on soil mineralization and nitrification: through the eye of the soil microbial community.

Helen Hughes - How can we maximise the use and value of soil C models for arable systems?

Jackson Kilonzi - Optimising agricultural inputs as informed by soil health and the soil microbiome. 

Karla Molina Galindo - Soil status and its relationship with gender and health inequalities in Guatemala (Chimaltenango).

Leslie Cai - Mob grazing methods for N cycle soil management, biodiversity, and greenhouse gas emissions in the UK.

Poppy Frater - Is mob grazing beneficial to soil health and the environment?

 

Current project grants

Bio-Spatial-SIP: Spatially targeted stable isotope probing for bioscience. Funded by the BBSRC ALERT 2023.

Past project grants

Recently completed projects:
'Africa SOIL: Soil Organic matter Improves Livelihoods'. Funded by the UKRI Collective Fund, Sustainable Enhancement of Agriculture and Aquaculture Production.
'LegumeSELECT: Science-driven Evaluation of LEgume Choice for Transformed livelihoods'. Funded by the BBSRC Global Challenges Research Fund Sustainable Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa.
'Exploiting the potential of genotype microbiome interactions to promote sustainable soil health in southern Africa'. Funded by the BBSRC Global Challenges Research Fund Foundation Award.
'N-CIRCLE Virtual Joint Centre for Closed-Loop Cycling of Nitrogen in Chinese Agriculture'. Funded by BBSRC/Newton.
'Controls on the stability of soils and their functioning under land use and climate change'. Funded by NERC/BBSRC Soil Security.

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