NISD research featured in DEV Annual Report
Celebrating new res
I am proud to feature in the UEA DEV annual report amongst so many inspirational friends. DEV has been a central part of my journey, but this issue shows more than that:
The photo above captures two women harvesting wheat in Western Kenya They’re testing new varieties with partners in Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) to find which offer innate rust resistance and the best performance in local fields. These varieties can build resilience, improve productivity and reduce environmental impacts.
It’s incredible to work with farmers like these on many international projects from both the natural and social science standpoints. Much of this is thanks to the wonderful core partnership originally developed between DEV and John Innes Centre researchers - and one that now includes seven institutes across the the Norwich Research Park.
When I started working at the John Innes Centre 10 years ago(!), we rarely collaborated with social scientists. Today, I can meet with crop science, gender researchers, impact evaluators, agronomists, behavioural economists, and policy experts in the same afternoon, to share our research and ambitions.
And the 2025 DEV annual report reflects this change. The transdisciplinary collaborations of Norwich Institute for Sustainable Development appear throughout this report as rich, cross-disciplinary research that is supporting farmers and food systems.
These collaborations are the result of of many years from before and during NISD. In particularly they are the result of huge efforts by Christopher Darby, Laura Camfield, Peter Emmrich, Natasha Grist, Jodi Lilley, John McDonagh, Nitya Rao, Cristóbal Uauy, Dale Sanders, Arjan Verschoor and many others who have worked with NISD and on our advisory boards.
Working across transdisciplinary projects like this can be difficult, but these partnerships are essential if we are to tackle some of the greatest challenges facing agriculture today.
Thank you to DEV for featuring our research, being a home to me, NISD and supporting such an inspiring community (and #1 Development studies in the last REF).
Thank you to David Girling for pulling all of this together!