All posts by Daniel Sandars

The purpose of Daniel Sandars' current work is to inform UK policy on biodiversity and arable agriculture by providing decision analysis methods and related quantified evidence base. The aim is to identify, develop as necessary, and apply methods which develop the linear programming approach to agricultural production planning to include effects on exemplar indicator species of farmland birds and mammals together with the associated decision making behaviour of farmers. The resulting approach will identify and quantify how farmers respond to changes in the financial, regulatory, climatic and technological environment, especially with respect to initiatives to promote biodiversity. It will be capable of rapid recalculation and easy adaptation to evaluate future, as yet unspecified, choices and changes. In general he applies a variety of modelling and operational research techniques, which often require considerable methodological innovation to succeed (be fit for purpose).
Agricultural OR Papers, Inspiring ideas

An engineering approach for sustainable systems

This #seminal #review paper summed up much of the thinking and research that I had been involved with for around a decade as a research scientist at the former Silsoe Research Institute at #Wrest Park Bedfordshire. (Wrest Park is a fabulous Stately home and was a gorgeous setting for UKs public sector agricultural engineering institute)

In many ways I remain an heir to that legacy with the remaining team members at Cranfield University. My work lies under Systems Modelling for Decisions -mostly under 1 and 2, but dipping into the rest

Key headings from the paper

Systems Modelling for Decisions:

  1. Systems modelling for environmental #Life Cycle Assessment
  2. Whole farm decisions and land use planning -the implications of farmers’ management decisions for environmental impacts
  3. Decision support for complex uncertain systems – stochastic dynamic programming and weed control strategies
  4. Linking process and systems models to support on-farm decision making – an example for fungicide does optimization

Control Engineering approaches to biological systems:

  1. Incorporating models in the control loop
  2. Control of multiple outputs -target growth but with limited emissions
  3. Advanced sensing techniques – a route to more complex control opportunities
    1. machine vision
    2. biological sensors
  4. Real-time machine control

Day, W., Audsley, E., & Frost, A. R. (2008). An engineering approach to modelling, decision support and control for sustainable systems. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 363(1491), 527–541. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2007.2168 Cite

#The Plan, Professional Development

Research Fellowship Training -Career Planning 31/7/2015

31st July 2015 Life as a #Research Fellow at Cranfield and #career #planning

Nice to see 20-30 of us attending. Despite being an established Research Fellow it was useful refresher training for me.

It all boils down to a triad of academic Papers (out), research student PhDs (out) and Pounds (in). The ages old maxim publish or perish.

To some extent your job is what you want it to be if you begin to bring in funding, excel at what you like and are good at and do the least you can get away with for the rest.

One of the interesting messages is the for every four hours meeting the Research Customers needs two and a half could be spent advancing ones career with papers and items of esteem, one and a half seeking new research grants, 1 hour teaching and supervising students, and 1 hour of citizenry and giving back to the quality of life of your work community. Most of us spend most of our time chasing our tails and leave the advancing ones career stuff too much to chance.

It was interesting that hands-on teaching peaks mid career with lecturers and senior lecturer. Readers and Professors are more broadly focused on the intellectual stewardship of their fields and its strategic resources such as the funding and intellectual outcomes

Life can be a roller coaster of ups and down – you need to be able to handle failure -grant rejections -paper rejections, etc. You need to stay grounded in reality and not get over hyped or devastated. Respond to challenges and setbacks with solutions and don’t allow yourself to become a toxic moaner that everyone resits helping.

There are multiple paths to success, but don’t expect the rules and goal post to be written or set in stone. Luck and intelligent understanding matter as well. Know your skills and leverage your strengths and mitigate your weaknesses.

Esteem and publications are like social media they are an ecosystem that grows out and grow on itself and starts to show exponential influence with time.it

Most research fellows struggle because they:
lack a plan to become a Professor
Most promotion cases are flawed because the candidate:
Lacks a clear and distinct intellectual vision

The Academic Reputational Development Plan has moved here to the PLAN

health check and plan
health check and plan

IS0205 LCA Agricultural Commodities

Citation Alert

Smith, L. G., Williams, A. G., & Pearce, Bruce. D. (2015). The energy efficiency of organic agriculture: A review. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, 30(03), 280–301. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742170513000471

Laurence cites the work that I was involved in at Silsoe Research Institute (SRI) and the early days of Cranfield University. Looking at the environmental burdens of producing 10 food commodities in England and Wales. The paper cited looks at the main arable crops wheat, oilseed-rape, and potatoes . Read more about his project here Environmental Burdens of Agricultural and Horticultural Commodity Production – LCA (IS0205)
Smith, L. G., Williams, A. G., & Pearce, Bruce. D. (2015). The energy efficiency of organic agriculture: A review. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, 30(03), 280–301. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742170513000471

Williams, A. G., Audsley, E., & Sandars, D. L. (2010). Environmental burdens of producing bread wheat, oilseed rape and potatoes in England and Wales using simulation and system modelling. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 15(8), 855–868. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-010-0212-3

current affairs

PhD – Part-time by staff candidacy

The return to work review after the year long leave of academic progress recommended to withdraw, There were two years and two months left on the clock.

Informally the advice is to concentrate on the papers anyway and once a portfolio of publications is in hand in a few years time then consider the case of a Phd/MPhil by portfolio of publications.

LCA Livestock Wastes

Citation Alert

Al-Ansari, T., Korre, A., Nie, Z., & Shah, N. (n.d.). Development of a life cycle assessment tool for the assessment of food production systems within the energy, water and food nexus. Sustainable Production and Consumption. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2015.07.005

This paper refers to work that I published at Silsoe Research Institute looking at the environmental benefits of livestock manure management technologies especially the impact of uncertainty in their claims of performance. They are looking at livestock production Qatar and the impact Solar Panels can have on improving sustainability
Al-Ansari, T., Korre, A., Nie, Z., & Shah, N. (n.d.). Development of a life cycle assessment tool for the assessment of food production systems within the energy, water and food nexus. Sustainable Production and Consumption. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2015.07.005

Sandars, D. L., Audsley, E., Cañete, C., Cumby, T. R., Scotford, I. M., & Williams, A. G. (2003). Environmental benefits of livestock manure management practices and technology by life cycle assessment. Biosystems Engineering, 84(3), 267–281. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1537-5110(02)00278-7

CLIMSAVE, My Projects

Citation Alert

Li, S., Colson, V., Lejeune, P., Speybroeck, N., & Vanwambeke, S. O. (2015). Agent-based modelling of the spatial pattern of leisure visitation in forests: A case study in Wallonia, south Belgium. Environmental Modelling & Software, 71, 111–125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2015.06.001

This paper cites work that I did for the Climsave project on using the Silsoe Whole Farm Model linear programme to predict future landuse under climate change in the EU 27 see
for the background to the project

Li, S. et al. (2015) ‘Agent-based modelling of the spatial pattern of leisure visitation in forests: A case study in Wallonia, south Belgium’, Environmental Modelling & Software, 71, pp. 111–125. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2015.06.001. Cite
Audsley, E., Trnka, M., Sabaté, S., Maspons, J., Sanchez, A., Sandars, D., Balek, J., & Pearn, K. (2014). Interactively modelling land profitability to estimate European agricultural and forest land use under future scenarios of climate, socio-economics and adaptation. Climatic Change, 128(3–4), 215–227. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-014-1164-6

current affairs

Huh. Sustainable Farming Can Feed the World? – NYTimes.com

The oldest and most common dig against organic agriculture is that it cannot feed the world’s citizens; this, however, is a supposition, not a fact. And industrial agriculture isn’t working perfectly, either: the global food price index is at a record high, and our agricultural system is wreaking havoc with the health not only of humans but of the earth. There are around a billion undernourished people; we can also thank the current system for the billion who are overweight or obese.

via Huh. Sustainable Farming Can Feed the World? – NYTimes.com.

current affairs

BBC News – Nitrogen pollution costs EU up to £280bn a year

Nitrogen pollution from farms, vehicles, industry and waste treatment is costing the EU up to £280bn 320bn euros a year, a report says.

The study by 200 European experts says reactive nitrogen contributes to air pollution, fuels climate change and is estimated to shorten the life of the average resident by six months.

Livestock farming is one of the biggest causes of nitrogen pollution, it adds

via BBC News – Nitrogen pollution costs EU up to £280bn a year.