Postdoctoral Research Fellow

University of Exeter Business School
Exeter - United Kingdom
S: Starting salary from £37,474

This UKRI funded post is available immediately for just under 3 years (until 4th Sept 2025).

The main purpose of the job is to undertake analysis of the consequences of the wider land use change associated with the introduction of new agricultural production technology in the UK. No prior knowledge of this technology (which concerns the farming of shrimp in contained systems on farmland) is needed. Main focus of this work will be to understand how variation in the natural environment across the UK alters the uptake of this technology and how this in turn allows land use to change to produce a range of environmental benefits including greenhouse gas storage,
biodiversity gains, water quality and flooding improvements and recreation benefits. The successful applicants will work with experts in all of these fields. The postholder will use their spatial analysis skills to bring all these disciplines together producing an integrated understanding of the environmental benefits generated by this change in land use.

The work will include the following tasks:

• To undertake spatial analysis across the UK capturing information on how variation in land characteristics might affect the uptake of these systems and their wider environmental impacts.

• To work with agricultural economics colleagues who are examining the economics of such systems and relate this information to variation in the environment, to highlight those areas with high economic suitability for such production systems.

• To assess how such productions systems directly affect the environmental characteristics of the farms. For example how a shift from conventional animal protein production (e.g. beef and lamb grazing) alters the greenhouse gas emission profiles of farms.

• To examine the indirect environmental impacts of the introduction of such systems. Contained terrestrial shrimp systems yield high levels of protein production on much reduced areas of land (compared to conventional agriculture). This allows farms to free up land for the production of ecosystem services such as wildlife habitat and biodiversity, the provision of open access recreation, changes to water quality and flood risk, etc.

• To extend the research in directions the individual finds particularly appealing; for example, considering the mental and physical health benefits of such land use change.

• To play a leading role in developing papers for publication and generating real world impact. It is intended that the position will provide an excellent springboard for research career progression.

Job summary