Elizabeth Creak Chair in Rural Policy & Strategy | Royal Agricultural University
Land use strategy, farmer-led innovation
I am Professor of Rural Policy & Strategy at the Royal Agricultural University, where my focus is on how to make agricultural research more useful on the ground and in policy. I am a founder-director of the Centre for Effective Innovation in Agriculture, alongside partners at Reading, Warwick, Newcastle and Harper Adams universities. Current research includes projects on land use change and the social implications of cultured meat. I advise the Food, Farming & Countryside Commission (www.ffcc.co.uk), and was part of the team who produced the National Food Strategy, led by Henry Dimbleby (www.nationalfoodstrategy.org). Until 2019, I was Director of Innovation at the Soil Association, a British-based non-profit promoting better food and farming. I established Innovative Farmers (www.innovativefarmers.org), a network that backs hands-on R&D by farmers, providing peer group support, funding and research expertise. Before joining the Soil Association in 2011, I was Executive Director of the Food Ethics Council, where highlights included collecting the BBC Food & Farming Awards 'Derek Cooper Award'. I've served on various advisory groups and boards, including the expert advisory panel for the UK Cabinet Office Food Matters report, ScienceWise, the BBSRC Science and Society Strategy Panel, and the boards of Sustain and the Brighton & Hove Food Partnership. My PhD investigated the use and abuse of science in food regulation.
