Gareth Edwards-jones

Biography

Gareth Edwards-Jones was born in 1962 and grew up on a farm in the Vale of Clwyd. After gaining a first class honours degree in biology from the University of Manchester (1984) and a PhD from the University of London (1988), he took up a position at the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC) in Edinburgh as a bio-economist. Five years later, in 1995, he became Head of the Rural Resource Management Department at SAC. Gareth was appointed Professor of Agriculture and Land Use Studies in the School of Agricultural and Forest Sciences (now the School of Environment, Natural Resources and Geography) in 1998. Over the next 13 years he led the development of agriculture at Bangor, setting up the Centre for Hill and Upland Management (CHUM) and obtaining funding for capital, research and knowledge transfer projects at Henfaes, the School's lowland farm site.

Research Interest

Gareth's research interests were wide-ranging, covering agriculture-related topics from the agronomy of hemp and flax to the reduction of risk from E. coli in rural communities. Other research projects were on wider land use issues, such as the vulnerability of European shrubland ecosystems to climate change and the use of monitoring as a conservation tool. Gareth was highly regarded as an expert on the environmental impacts of food production, and he had recently developed an interest in the global challenge of food security. In recognition of his expertise, Gareth was a member of several important national committees and advisory groups on various aspects of agriculture and land use. He also made numerous appearances on television and radio, wrote regular press contributions and, as a charismatic speaker, received far more invitations than he could possibly accept to give talks to academic, industry and community groups.