New Dean for School of Agriculture, Food & Environment

The Royal Agricultural University (RAU) is pleased to announce that Professor David Hopkins has been appointed as the new Dean of the RAU’s School of Agriculture, Food and Environment. Professor Hopkins will take up the post on 1 October 2014.

The Royal Agricultural University (RAU) is pleased to announce that Professor David Hopkins has been appointed as the new Dean of the RAU’s School of Agriculture, Food and Environment. Professor Hopkins will take up the post on 1 October 2014.

Professor Hopkins is currently Head of the School of Life Sciences at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, which spans Environmental and Marine Sciences, Food and Drink, Human Health, and Psychology, and includes about 1,000 students and 100 members of staff. David teaches undergraduate courses in Plant Biology and the Environmental Sciences, and played a key role in revising the biological sciences curricula, and overseeing an increase in enrolment in the MSc Food Science and the Brewing and Distilling programmes at Heriot-Watt.

Previously, he was Director of Science at the Scottish Crop Research Institute at Dundee, where in addition to being a research scientist in the Environment-Plant Interactions programme, he led the Institute’s initiative to expand and diversify its competitive research funding base. Before SCRI, he was a Professor and Head of School at the University of Stirling, where he also held a prestigious Research Fellowship from the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

David Hopkins is a soil scientist with a PhD from the University of Newcastle. He is a specialist in nutrient cycling processes in soils and the dynamics of soil organic matter. He has applied this expertise in both agricultural and ecological contexts, and his work includes studies on the decomposition of residues from GM plants, the effects of soil management (particular fertilizer treatments, tillage and irrigation) on nutrient turnover, and the carbon distribution and storage in soils.

He has significant experience in soil biogeochemical processes in polar regions, having completed a substantial amount of field work in Antarctica, and will be part of a team working in the Arctic (northern Greenland) this summer. He is also part of a large, dry land agriculture research project at the NW Agriculture & Forestry University in China and has research projects operating in southern Africa.

He has published extensively in the soil science research literature, maintains an active research programme, has enduring international collaborations, has supervised the training of over 20 PhD students, and has extensive editorial experience for scientific journals. He is a past President of the British Society of Soil Science, serves on Defra’s ACRE panel which provides scientific advice to UK Government Ministers in relation to GM organisms, currently chairs the UK National Committee on Antarctic Research, and has substantial experience on research committees of the Natural Environment Research Council and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.

Professor Hopkins, incoming Dean of the School of Agriculture, Food and Environment, said: “After 25 years living and working in Scotland, I am looking forward to returning to the southwest; most of my first twenty years were spent less than twenty miles from Cirencester. Agriculture has a higher position on the national and international agenda now than at any time in the past few decades, with increasing demands for both research and technological development on the one hand, and the supply of trained and enthusiastic specialists, on the other hand, because of the multiple challenges of ensuring food and environmental security in a an changing world.

“The Royal Agricultural University, with its long and rich heritage, is almost uniquely positioned to deliver to these objectives and to adapt the emerging challenges. I look forward to meeting new colleagues and learning new things at the RAU and to introducing my networks of colleagues and collaborators to the RAU.”

Professor Chris Gaskell, Principal of the RAU said: “Professor Hopkins is a tremendous addition to the team at the RAU; he brings a wealth of experience in agriculture, particularly in areas such as soil science which are key to the challenges facing food production and environmental management, and his international experience fits well with our global outlook and heritage. These are exciting times for us all.”

The School of Agriculture, Food and Environment- offers learning and training opportunities at Foundation Degree, BSc (Hons) and MSc level in Agriculture, Applied Farm Management, Food Production and Supply Management, International Rural Development and Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security, and has complementary research and consultancy activities that support the land-based industries. In other Schools, the University offers a range of degree programmes for those seeking to development expertise in business, equine science, or real estate and land management.

The Royal Agricultural University has an impeccably high graduate employment rate, with 97.5% of postgraduates and 96.3% of undergraduates within employment or further study within six months. Most students undertake a 20-week placement to help them gain valuable work experience, and can benefit from the close industry contacts maintained by the RAU.

For more information please contact shelly.hampshire@rau.ac.uk on 01285 652531.