Natural Resources Institute

Staff

Name Details
Professor Paolo Sarfatti
  • NRI Department: Livelihoods and Institutions Department
  • Biography:

    Paolo Sarfatti obtained the Laurea in Agricultural Sciences (equivalent to the title of MSc) from the University of Florence, Italy in 1982. He obtained the title of Dottore Agronomo (Chartered Agronomist) in 1983. In 2010, he participated in the International Programme on Development Evaluation (IPDET) in Ottawa.

    Paolo was Research Fellow at the Department of Agronomy of the University of Florence, Italy, 1982-1984. He was then appointed as an Agricultural Officer at the Istituto Agronomico per l’Oltremare of Florence (IAO), Italy, 1985-2000 before becoming Technical Director (2001-2006). From 200-2008 he was Policy Officer at the DG Development of the European Commission Unit B2 ‘Policies for Sustainable Management of Natural Resources’ in Brussels before returning to IAO as Technical Director (2008-2013). He was Managing Director of Agrinatura EEIG, Paris, in 2010-2014.

    At present (from 2014) Paolo is Team Leader of the EC Integrated Support Services on “Food Security, Nutrition and Sustainable Agriculture”, Landell Mills Ltd, UK. He is Project Director of the Landell Mills led Consortium for the EC Framework Contract “Sustainable management of natural resources and Resilience”.
  • Selected Publications:
    • Sarfatti P., Ongaro L., 1986 - “The Continental Oases of southern Tunisia and the Agrometeorological Network of the Nefzaoua Project” in Proceedings of the ICRAF/WMO/UNEP Workshop on the application of Meteorology to Agroforestry Systems Planning and Management, Nairobi 9-13 February
    • Di Gregorio A., Ongaro L., Sarfatti P., 1989 - “Land cover monitoring using remote sensing data (SW Bhutan 1977-1988)”. 'Global natural resources monitoring and assessments', IUFRO/FAO, 24- 30 September 1989, Venice.
    • Delli G., Martucci A., Sarfatti P., 1995 - “Land suitability evaluation for winter wheat in Tiaret region (Algeria). Proceedings of the ISSS International Symposium, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 6-10 February 1995, Paris
    • Calzolari C., Ongaro L., Magazzini P. - Sarfatti P., 1995 “Use of Landsat TM and DEM data in producing reconnaissance scale soil maps”. Proceedings of the ISSS International Symposium, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 6-10 February 1995, Paris, 325-340
    • IAO-ITGC, 1995 “Rapport sur les ressources naturelles et evaluation des terres (volumes 1,2,3 et 4 avec cartes)”. Projet de recherche appliquee: blé dur et lentille dans la region de Tiaret (Algerie). IAO, Florence 1995.
    • Colombo R., Sarfatti P., 1995 - “Remotely sensed data for hydrological analysis of two sub-catchments of the Mareb river (Eritrea)”. Workshop "Remote Sensing and Water Resources Management". Montpellier, 29 November -1 December 1995.
    • Campolmi G., Nibbi P., Ongaro L., Sarfatti P., 1996 - “Land evaluation and farming systems analysis: an application in North-Western Algeria”. 14th International Symposium on Sustainable Farming Systems - Colombo 11th-16th November 1996
    • Sarfatti P., Delli G., Ongaro L., Mollicone D., 1998 - Using Landsat TM data for Poplar Cultivated Areas estimation in Konia eregli Region (Anatolia-Turkey). EARSeL Symposium, Enschede (NL) 11-14 May 1998
    • Chiari T., Bazzani F., Delli G., Sarfatti P., Cadi A., Bellah F., 1999 - “Statistical and GIS tools for Durum Wheat variety evaluation in Algeria". World Seed Conference, 6-8 Septembre 1999, Cambridge, UK
    • Cadi A., Chiari T., Bazzani F., Delli G., Bellah F., Sarfatti P., 1999 - "Utilisation du SIG pour l’amélioration et le renforcement du système national d’adaptation variétale du blé dur en Algérie". Séminaire international sur les Systèmes d’Information Géographique et de Télédétection ‘ALSIG. 99’, 15-18 Novembre 1999, Algier.
    • Sarfatti P. 2001 - Rapport sur le Plan National de Developpement Agricole (PNDA) en Algerie. IAO Report. Florence, 2001.
    • Delli G., Sarfatti P., Bazzani F., Cadi A., 2002 - “Application of GIS for agro-climatological characterisation of northern Algeria to define durum wheat production areas”. Journal of Agriculture and Environment for International Development –Vol. 96 N° 3/4.
    • Delli G., Sarfatti P., Cadi A., 2002 - Classification of historical series of NDVI: an application for northern Algeria”. Journal of Agriculture and Environment for International Development –Vol. 96 N° 3/4.
    • Jansen L., Mahamadou H., Sarfatti P., 2003 - “Land cover change analyses using LCCS”. Journal of Agriculture and Environment for International Development –Vol. 97 N° 1/2.
    • Gaouna B. O., Stroppiana D., Ungaro F., Sarfatti P., 2004 - “Crop yeld reduction estimation using the FAO-CROPWAT model: a case study in Southern Chad”. Journal of Agriculture and Environment for International Development - Vol. 97 N° 3/4.
    • Di Gregorio A., Sarfatti P., Laurin G.V., 2005 – “The Global Land Cover Network: Innovation and Experiences in Land Cover Mapping for ARD and Land Use Planning”. International Conference on Agricultural Research for Development: European Responses to Changing Global Needs. 27-29 April 2005. Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, Switzerland
    • Landmann T., Breda F., Di Gregorio A., Latham J., Sarfatti P., Delli G., 2005 – “Looking towards a new land cover dynamics data set: the Medium Resolution Data-base for Africa (MEDA)”. AfricaGIS conference, 31 October – 4 November 2005, Pretoria, South Africa
    • Avitabile V., Drigo R., Di Gregorio A., Sarfatti P., 2005 – “Use of Land Cover data for woody biomas stock estimation in Eastern and Central Africa”. AfricaGIS conference, 31 October – 4 November 2005, Pretoria, South Africa
  • Research / Scholarly Interests:

    He has 35 years of experience on international cooperation for agricultural development, mostly in Africa. In the first period of his career his main field of research and action was Sustainable management of natural resources for agriculture and rural development in developing countries. In more recent years he has concentrated his interest on how to improve, through international cooperation, coherence and effectiveness of agricultural and rural transformation policies and programmes in developing countries. In this context, he has a long experience of working with the EU and in collaboration with specialised international organisations such as FAO and IFAD.
Phone: +44 (0)1634 88 3199
Visiting Professor of Sustainable Agriculture and International Development
Professor Rick J Hodges Phone: +44 (0)1634 88 3199
Visiting Professor of Grain Postharvest Management
Professor Songbi Chen
  • NRI Department: Livelihoods and Institutions Department
Phone: +44 (0)1634 88 3199
Visiting Professor
Professor Tilman Brück
  • NRI Department: Livelihoods and Institutions Department
  • Qualifications: MA Hons, MPhil, DPhil
  • Biography:

    Professor Tilman Brück is a leading expert for the study of individual behaviour and welfare in crisis settings. Tilman is a Visiting Professor at the Natural Resources Institute of the University of Greenwich, a Professor of Economic Development and Food Security at Humboldt-University of Berlin, Head of the Research Group “Economic Development and Food Security” at the Leibniz Institute of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops in Großbeeren near Berlin, and Founder and Director of ISDC - International Security and Development Center in Berlin (www.isdc.org). Tilman is also a Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Households in Conflict Network (www.hicn.org). His research focuses on the behaviour and the welfare of poor and vulnerable households in insecure, violent, fragile and humanitarian emergency settings, often collecting and analysing micro-level panel data and conducting impact evaluations. Tilman is the principal investigator of the Life in Kyrgyzstan Study (https://lifeinkyrgyzstan.org/) and the Life with Corona Survey (https://lifewithcorona.org/) – and a regular advisor to governments, international organisations and NGOs. He was previously Professor of Food Security, State Fragility and Climate Change at the Natural Resources Institute of the University of Greenwich, Director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Professor of Development Economics at Humboldt-University of Berlin, and a Founding Member of the Global Young Academy (https://globalyoungacademy.net/). Tilman obtained a doctorate in economics from the University of Oxford.
  • Selected Publications:
    • Regassa, M. D. and T. Brück (2022). “Usefulness and misrepresentation of phone surveys on COVID-19 and food security in Africa”. Food Security, forthcoming.
    • Baliki, G., P. Schreinemachers, T. Brück and N. Md. Uddin (2022). “Impacts of a home garden intervention in Bangladesh after one, three and six years”. Agriculture & Food Security, vol. 11, no. 48. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40066-022-00388-z
    • Stojetz, W., N. T. N. Ferguson, G. Baliki, O. Diaz Botía, J. Elfes, D. Esenaliev, H. Freudenreich, A. Koebach, L. Lopes de Abreu, L. Peitz, A. Todua, M. Schreiner, A. Hoeffler, P. Justino and T. Brück (2022). “The Life with Corona Survey”. Social Science & Medicine, vol. 306, no. 115109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115109
    • Baliki, G., T. Brück, N. T. N. Ferguson and S. W. Kebede (2022). “Micro-Foundations of Fragility: Concepts, Measurement and Application”. Review of Development Economics, vol. 26, pp. 639-60. https://doi.org/10.1111/rode.12876
    • Brück, T. and M. Hennicke (2022). “Ethnic Inequality and Forced Displacement.” PLoS ONE, 17(4): e0266448. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0266448
    • Freudenreich, H., A. Aladysheva and T. Brück (2022). “Weather shocks across seasons and child health: Evidence from a panel study in the Kyrgyz Republic”. World Development, 155: 105801. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105801
    • de Groot, O. J., C. Bozzoli, A. Alamir and T. Brück (2022). “The Global Economic Burden of Violent Conflict”. Journal of Peace Research, vol. 59, no. 2, pp. 259-76. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F00223433211046823
    • Abreu, L., A. Koebach, O. M. Días Botía, S. Carleial, A. Hoeffler, W. Stojetz, H. Freudenreich, P. Justino and T. Brück (2021). „Life with Corona: Increased gender differences in aggression and depression symptoms due to the COVID-19 pandemic burden in Germany„. Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 12, no. 2705. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.689396
    • Larsen M. M., K. Boehnke, D. Esenaliev and T. Brück (2021). "Social cohesion, ethnicity and well-being: Results from an intervention study in Kyrgyzstan". Cultural-Historical Psychology, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 46-55. https://doi.org/10.17759/chp.2021170405
    • Schreinemachers, P., R. M. Shrestha, B. Gole, D. R. Bhattarai, P. L. Ghimire, B. P. Subedi, T. Brück, G. Baliki, I. P. Gautam and C. E. Blake (2021). “Drivers of food choice among children and caregivers in post-earthquake Nepal“. Ecology of Food and Nutrition, vol. 60, no. 6, pp. 826-46. https://doi.org/10.1080/03670244.2021.1969925
    • Brück, T., N. T. N. Ferguson, V. Izzi and W. Stojetz (2021). “Can Jobs Programs Build Peace?” World Bank Research Observer, vol. 36, no. 2, pp. 234-59. https://doi.org/10.1093/wbro/lkaa004
    • Schreinemachers, P., G. Baliki, R. M. Shrestha, D. R. Bhattarai, I. P. Gautam, P. L. Ghimire, B. P. Subedi and T. Brück (2020). "Nudging children toward healthier food choices: An experiment combining school and home gardens" Global Food Security, vol. 26, September, 100454. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2020.100454
    • Brück, T. and N. T. N. Ferguson (2020). “Money Can’t Buy Love but Can It Buy Peace? Evidence from PEACE II”. Conflict Management and Peace Science, vol. 37, no. 5, pp. 536-58. https://doi.org/10.1177/0738894218766865
    • Larsen, M., D. Esenaliev, T. Brück and K. Boehnke (2020). “The Connection Between Social Cohesion and Personality: A Multilevel Study in the Kyrgyz Republic“. International Journal of Psychology, vol. 55, no. 1, pp. 42-51. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.12551
    • Brück, T., O. M. Días Botía, N. T. N. Ferguson, J. Ouédraogo and Z. Ziegelhöfer (2019). “Assets for Alimentation? The Nutritional Impact of Assets-Based Programming in Niger.” Journal of Development Studies, vol. 55, no. sup1, pp. 55-74. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2019.1687876
    • Baliki, G., T. Brück, P. Schreinemachers and M. N. Uddin (2019). “Long-term Behavioral Impact of an Integrated Home Garden Intervention: Evidence from Bangladesh”. Food Security, vol. 11, no. 6, pp. 1217-1230. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-019-00969-0
    • Kraehnert, K., T. Brück, M. Di Maio and R. Nisticò (2019). “The Effects of Conflict on Fertility: Evidence from the Genocide in Rwanda”. Demography, vol. 56, no. 3, pp. 935-68. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-019-00780-8
    • Brück, T., M. Di Maio and S. Miaari (2019). “Learning the Hard Way: The Effect of Violent Conflict on Student Academic Achievement”. Journal of the European Economic Association, in press. https://doi.org/10.1093/jeea/jvy051
    • Brück, T., M. d'Errico and R. Pietrelli (2019). “The Effects of Violent Conflict on Household Resilience and Food Security: Evidence from the 2014 Gaza Conflict”. World Development, vol. 119, pp. 203-223. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.05.008
    • Ferguson, N. T. N., E. Nillesen and T. Brück (2019). “Can Employment Build Peace? A Pseudo-meta-analysis of Employment Programmes in Africa“. Economics Letters, vol. 180, pp. 99-101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econlet.2019.03.033
    • Verwimp, P., P. Justino and T. Brück (2019). “The Microeconomics of Violent Conflict”. Journal of Development Economics, vol. 141, in press. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2018.10.005
    • Brück, T. and N. T. N. Ferguson (2018). “Money Can’t Buy Love but Can It Buy Peace? Evidence from PEACE II”. Conflict Management and Peace Science, in press. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0738894218766865
    • Brück, T. and D. Esenaliev (2018). “Post-Socialist Transition and the Intergenerational Transmission of Education in Kyrgyzstan”. Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 61-89. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecot.12136
    • Puri, J., A. Aladysheva, V. Iversen, Y. Ghorpade and T. Brück (2017). “Can Rigorous Impact Evaluations Improve Humanitarian Assistance?”. Journal of Development Effectiveness, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 519-42. https://doi.org/10.1080/19439342.2017.1388267
    • Bircan, C., T. Brück and M. Vothknecht (2017). “Violent Conflict and Inequality”. Oxford Development Studies, vol. 45, no. 2, pp. 125-44. https://doi.org/10.1080/13600818.2016.1213227
    • Brück, T., P. Justino, P. Verwimp, A. Avdeenko and A. Tedesco (2016): “Measuring Violent Conflict in Micro-Level Surveys: Current Practices and Methodological Challenges”. World Bank Research Observer, vol. 31, no. 1, pp. 29-58. https://doi.org/10.1093/wbro/lkv011
    • Bozzoli, C., T. Brück and T. Muhumuza (2016). “Activity Choices of Internally Displaced Persons and Returnees: Quantitative Survey Evidence from Post-War Northern Uganda”. Bulletin of Economic Research, vol. 68, no. 4, pp. 329-47. https://doi.org/10.1111/boer.12056
    • Brück, T., D. Esenaliev, A. Kroeger, A. Kudebayeva, B. Mirkasimov and S. Steiner (2014): “Household Survey Data for Research on Well-Being and Behavior in Central Asia”. Journal of Comparative Economics, vol. 42, no. 3, pp. 819-35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jce.2013.02.003
    • Justino, P., T. Brück and P. Verwimp, eds. (2013). A Micro-Level Perspective on the Dynamics of Conflict, Violence and Development. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
  • Research / Scholarly Interests:

    Professor Brück’s research focuses on how people cope with extreme adversity, from violent conflict, insecurity, state fragility and weak institutions to natural disasters and the impacts of climate change. He has pioneered the quantitative micro-level analysis of violent conflict, developing methods to identify the causal impacts of shocks and uncertainty on human behaviour and welfare. In recent years, he has expanded this view of variable ‘conflict exposure’ at the individual level to other settings of extreme uncertainty, such as natural disasters and pandemics. He has also developed tools for conducting rigorous impact evaluations to learn if and how interventions in conflict and fragile settings can improve food security and human development. Professor Brück values long-term longitudinal (or panel) studies and has contributed to many such studies around the world, leading, for example, a panel established in 2010 in Kyrgyzstan. Many of his research projects combine multiple methods and data sources as a way of learning about important contextual and institutional factors.
  • Awards:
    • Acceptance into the Heisenberg-Programme of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), from March 2020
    • Member of the IDP Sub-Group, International Expert Group on Refugee and IDP Statistics (EGRIS), Joint IDP Profiling Service, since August 2018
    • Member of the International Evaluation Panel for Economics in Norway, Norwegian Research Council, 2017
    • Member of the International Advisory Council, Institute for Economics and Peace, since 2013
    • Member of the Board, Global Young Academy, 2010 - 2012
    • Founding Fellow, Global Young Academy, 2010 - 2014
    • Chair of the Board, Die Junge Akademie (German Young Academy of Sciences), 2009 - 2010
    • "IAP Award for Young Scientists 2008” by the InterAcademy Panel and TWAS, the academy of sciences for the developing world (prize worth 10.000 USD), 2008
    • Nominated as "Distinguished Young Scientist” by the "InterAcademy Panel Conference of Young Leaders in STI – 2008” at the World Economic Forum’s "Annual Meeting of the New Champions”, Tianjin, China, September 2008
    • Elected Member, Development Economics Committee, German Economic Association, since 2008
    • Elected Fellow, Die Junge Akademie (German Young Academy of Sciences), 2007 – 2012
    • "Best Article Award” by the Development Studies Association (DSA) for "Poverty during Transition: Household Survey Evidence from Ukraine”, 2007
    • Doctoral Scholarship by German Studienstiftung Foundation, 1997 - 2000
    • Economic and Social Research Council Scholarship, 1994 – 1996
Visiting Professor at NRI
Professor Toby Bruce
  • NRI Department: Livelihoods and Institutions Department
Phone: +44 (0)1634 88 3199
Visiting Professor at NRI
Professor Tom Randolph
  • NRI Department: Livelihoods and Institutions Department
Phone: +44 (0)1634 88 3199
Visiting Professor of Animal Health and Livestock Economics
Professor Shaohui Fu
  • NRI Department: Livelihoods and Institutions Department
Phone: +44 (0)1634 88 3199
Visiting Professor
Professor Stephen Torr
  • NRI Department: Livelihoods and Institutions Department
Phone: +44 (0)1634 88 3199
Visiting Professor of Veterinary Entomology
Hannah Hyde
  • Qualifications: M.Ed.
NRI Communications Coordinator
Katherine August
  • Qualifications: PhD
  • Biography:

    I started at the university in January 2024 as a post-doctoral research fellow in the RodTickPathMan One Health project. The project investigates the link between grey squirrels, an invasive species in the UK, ticks and Lyme’s disease. I will focus on estimating the abundances of squirrels and other tick carriers using a range of field survey techniques but primarily camera traps.

    Prior to this position, I completed my PhD at the University of Aberdeen (2018-2023) supervised by Prof Xavier Lambin (UoA), Dr Thomas Cornulier (Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland (BioSS)), Dr Nicholas Schurch (BioSS), Dr Philip Whitfield (Natural Research Ltd.) and Tom Dearnley (Forestry England). The project assessed the impact of persecution on the population dynamics of goshawks, a forest specialist bird of prey in the UK. I used a range of methods to do this, including field and laboratory work as well as complex statistical methods such as GAMMs and capture-mark-recapture models in a Bayesian framework. Additionally, I delved into the AI world and trained computer vision models to process and label the camera trap images I collected.

    In addition to demonstrating on a range of practical and statistical courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate taught levels, I have also managed and lectured a final year undergraduate course titled Wildlife Conservation and Management. This included setting and marking written reports and presentations. I have also co-supervised honours and master’s level students.

    In addition to traditional teaching, I have been heavily involved in groups which promote peer learning and development. In particular, I helped to run and hosted sessions with the Aberdeen Study Group who aim to promote knowledge exchange in a friendly setting, focussing primarily on statistics and coding.  
  • Selected Publications:

    August K, Davison M, Bortoluzzi C, Wellcome Sanger Institute Tree of Life programme, Wellcome Sanger Institute Scientific Operations: DNA Pipelines collective, Tree of Life Core Informatics collective, Darwin Tree of Life Consortium. The genome sequence of the northern goshawk, Accipiter gentilis (Linnaeus, 1758) [version 1; peer review: 2 approved]. Wellcome Open Res 2022, 7:122 (doi:https://doi.org/10.12688/wellcomeopenres.17821.1)
  • Research / Scholarly Interests:

    My research interests centre on the impact that humans have on the ecology of UK species. My PhD research focussed on how persecution has impacted the population dynamics of goshawks, a medium-sized, forest specialist bird of prey, in the northern UK. I used a range of methods, including GAMs to identify spatially and temporally lagged effects of covariates on reproduction and used a Bayesian framework to assess factors affecting survival rates. Continuing to make use of new modelling applications to fully understand the impact humans are having on other species is crucial to helping halt the biodiversity crisis we face.

    A large portion of the project involved deploying camera traps at nest sites to get colour ring recoveries. This led me to the world of AI and computer vision to attempt to identify individual unmarked goshawks. This field is rapidly expanding but it’s use in ecology is often limited due to a lack of expertise and time to learn. I will continue to help bridge the gap with my current research, applying computer vision models to UK mammalian species. I aim to identify ways in which ecologists can more easily access this new technology.
  • External Profiles:

    ORCID

    https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6031-5117
Post Doctoral Research Fellow

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