Staff Profile
Professor Mark Reed
Prof of Socio-Technical Innovation
- Email: mark.reed@ncl.ac.uk
- Telephone: 07538082343
- Personal Website: www.profmarkreed.com
- Address: School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Agriculture Building, King's Road, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU
I am a Professor of Socio-Technical Innovation at Newcastle University, in a Research England funded Chair as part of N8 AgriFood. I am a transdisciplinary researcher specializing in environmental governance and research impact. The goals of my research are to: enhance the sustainability and resilience of peatlands and agri-food systems; and change the way researchers around the world generate and share knowledge so they can change the world.
I am based at the Institute for Agri-Food Research & Innovation and the Centre for Rural Economy in the School of Natural and Environmental Sciences. I am a Visiting Professor at University of Leeds and Birmingham City University. I am Research Manager for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) UK Peatland Programme and a member of IUCN's international Committee on Ecosystem Management. I run a spin-out company, based on my research, training researchers how to embed impact in their research at: www.fasttrackimpact.com.
I graduated in 1997 and 1999 with a BSc (hons) Tropical Environmental Science and a MSc Agroforestry from the University of Aberdeen. I got my Post Graduate Certificate in Learning & Teaching in Higher Education in 2004 and my PhD in 2005 from the University of Leeds. I moved to the University of Aberdeen as a Senior Lecturer in 2009, where I became Director of the Aberdeen Centre for Environmental Sustainability, before moving to Birmingham City University as a Reader in 2012. I was made a Professor of Interdisciplinary Environmental Research in 2013, and was responsible for leading my School's submission to the Research Excellence Framework (REF).
Publications
Author/co-author of >100 international journal articles (34 as lead or corresponding author), 3 books and 60 book chapters and reports with >200 co-authors from 30 countries (averaging a rate of 8 publications per year since completing my PhD in 2005)
H index: 56 according to Google Scholar based on >19,000 citations
• 53% of my publications are in the top 10% most cited worldwide and 12% in the top 1% most cited worldwide
4 of my papers have been cited >1000 times (my most cited paper has >3000 citations) and 35 of my papers have been cited >100 times (13 as lead author)
• 69% of my papers are published in the top 10% of journals (based on CiteScore percentiles)
Funding
Led 18 projects as PI worth a total of £3.8M (two worth >£1M)
Contributed to a further 27 projects as Co-I, Work Package leader or equivalent, worth approximately £4M to my institution (total value of these projects is around £30M)
45% of my time is currently covered on funded project
REF2014 contribution
Led Birmingham City University’s UoA16 (planning & architecture) REF2014 submission, contributed an impact case study that was graded 3* (by the UoA16 panel), and was submitted as a 4* researcher (2 papers were clear 4* and 2 papers were either 3* or 4* according to at least 2 independent pre-reviewers per paper, corroborated by pre-review assessments by other Universities submitting these papers)
Academic roles and positions
Member of funding panels for GCRF, UKRI Future Leader Fellowships, BBSRC, ESRC, NERC, ESPA and the EU Biodiversa programme and have reviewed proposals for the British Academy, Leverhulme, and for Dutch, Austrian, German, Swedish, South African and Swiss research funders. Invited by BBSRC to evaluate the UK Research Councils' Insect Pollinator Initiative (2013). Invited by BBSRC to apply for core membership of their Bioscience for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Strategy Advisory Panel (2020 pending outcome)
Advised on impact to as a member of the Programme Advisory Group for NERC’s Biodiversity, Ecosystem Services and Sustainability programme (2011-2017). Advised and provided training on impact to the NERC Valuing Nature Programme (2015-2018) and the BBSRC Global Food Security programme (since 2018). Advisor on impact to Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC) funded by Australian government
Handling Editor (Social Sciences) for Conservation Biology (impact factor 4.165; ranked 6/44 (Biodiversity Conservation) and 25/223 (Environmental Sciences)) (2016-2018)
Prizes
Awarded ESRC Michael Young Prize “rewarding the very best early career social scientists whose research has the potential to make a positive and far-reaching impact beyond academia” (2008)
Voted “best impact” in Rural Economy & Land Use programme for Sustainable Uplands project (2011)
The Peatland Code (which arose from my work on the Sustainable Uplands project) was shortlisted for the European Union’s Natura 2000 award (2015) and RSPB and Scottish Natural Heritage’s Nature of Scotland Awards (2018)
My company, Fast Track Impact, was shortlisted as a finalist in the ARMA awards under the impact category (2016), and this work was recognised by a Royal Society award for changing research culture (2018)
Engagement and impact
I am Research Lead for IUCN UK Peatland Programme and a member of their international Committee on Ecosystem Management. IUCN own the Peatland Code, which I helped develop based on my research in collaboration with UK Government and its devolved administrations & agencies
I play a prominent role in the UN Global Peatlands Initiative (UNEP and FAO):
Chairing their Global Peatlands Research Funding Working Group
Leading their work to develop international standards for the collection of peatland research and monitoring data
Monitoring and reporting compliance with resolutions passed by UN Environment Assembly, Ramsar Convention and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (which drew on my research)
Speaking at side events organised by the Global Peatland Initiative at UNFCCC COP24 (Poland), COP25 (Spain) and COP26 (UK)
I will be a lead and contributing author to chapters in the forthcoming UN Global Peatland Assessment
Lead author of Impulse Report leading to opening keynote at UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)’s Committee for Science & Technology in 2015. This fed into the Convention’s 10 year plan and was extended as a book published by Earthscan/Routledge, with a foreword by the Executive Secretaries of the UNCCD and UNFCCC. The book was cited heavily in the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land (2019)
Nominated by UNCCD and consulted by UK Government and FAO to scope the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land
Lead author of a White Paper making recommendations which were delivered in a keynote address to UNCCD COP9 (2010)
Invited as a co-ordinating author to write a CGIAR working paper that fed into the UNCCD's first Global Land Outlook (2017)
Invited by GIAR to help design an international research programme for the International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas worth $50M per year
Contributing author on the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Service (IPBES) Thematic Assessment on Land Degradation and Restoration (2018)
Member of IPBES Nomination Review Panel to select experts to deliver the IPBES work programme and contributing author on the IPBES Land Degradation and Restoration report
Member of the Committee on Climate Change's (CCC) Land Use Expert Advisory Group, advising Government on the implementation of recommendations from CCC's Net Zero report (2020)
Member of Defra’s Sustainable Growing Media Technical Committee responsible for phasing out the use of peat in horticulture (since 2012)
Contributing author to UK National Ecosystem Assessment (NEA) Mountains, Moors & Heaths chapter (2011) and co-led Shared Values Work Package for NEA follow-on (2014)
Scientific advisor to BBC Education and work has been covered by the Guardian, Radio 4, Radio Scotland and international media
Founder and CEO of Fast Track Impact, providing evidence-based training to >8000 researchers from >200 organisations in 52 countries since 2015
I am a transdisciplinary researcher specialising in social innovation, research impact and stakeholder participation in agri-food systems. Specific areas of expertise include:
Knowledge exchange (aka. transfer, management, mobilisation) for impact:
Co-production of knowledge
Analysing pathways to impact (with a focus on the generation of new theory to understand how impacts from research are conceptualised, reported and perceived to contribute to rural policy and practice)
Eliciting and integrating different knowledges, including the study of local (aka. traditional, indigenous) knowledge
Boundary organisations and knowledge brokerage
Facilitation and the identification and management of power dynamics
Managing conflict in the natural environment
Stakeholder participation:
Stakeholder analysis (aka. mapping)
Participatory scenario development
Participatory monitoring and evaluation (with a focus on environmental indicators and citizen science)
Participatory (aka. mediated, dynamic systems) modelling
Deliberative processes and techniques
Cultural and shared values for the natural environment
Transdisciplinary research practices
Social innovation (in behaviours, technologies and social structures to support sustainable rural development)
Social learning
Socio-technical innovation and transitions management
Adaptive management
Social networks
Resilience and sustainable livelihoods in social-ecological systems
Novel environmental governance mechanisms based on collaborative management and new markets
Market-based policy instruments including Payments for Ecosystem Services
The rural environment
Adapting to climate change in agri-food and rural systems
Environmental and rural land use management
Environmental governance in agri-food and rural systems
Balancing priorities in multi-functional landscapes
Food security, land use, conservation and agricultural policy
Ecosystem services and the Ecosystems Approach
Land degradation in drylands and desertification
Peatland management
Contested Environment (ACE8082) – module leader
Contemporary Countryside (ACE8050) - contributor
Academic and Professional Skills (ACE2066) - contributor
- deVente J, Reed MS, Stringer LC, Valente S, Newig J. How does the context and design of participatory decision-making processes affect their outcomes? Evidence from sustainable land management in global drylands. Ecology & Society 2016, 21(2), 1-24.
- Kenter J, Reed MS, Irvine KN, O'Brien E, Brady E, Bryce R, Christie M, Cooper N, Hockley N, Fazey I, Orchard-Webb J, Ravenscroft N, Raymond CM, Tett P, Watson V. Shared values and deliberative valuation of ecosystem services: Key findings and future directions. Ecosystem Services 2016. Submitted.
- Reed MS, Stringer LC, Fazey I, Evely AC, Kruijsen JHJ. Five principles for the practice of knowledge exchange in environmental management. Journal of Environmental Management 2014, 146, 337-345.
- Kusmanoff AM, Hardy MJ, Fidler F, Maffey G, Raymond C, Reed MS, Fitzsimons JA, Bekessy SA. Framing the private land conservation conversation: Strategic framing of the benefits of conservation participation could increase landholder engagement. Environmental Science & Policy 2016, 61, 124-128.
- Kenter JO, Bryce R, Christie M, Cooper N, Hockley N, Irvine KN, Fazey I, O'Brien L, Orchard-Webb J, Ravenscroft N, Raymond CM, Reed MS, Tett P, Watson V. Shared values and deliberative valuation: Future directions. Ecosystem Services 2016, 21(Part B), 358-371.
- Kenter JO, Reed MS, Fazey I. The Deliberative Value Formation model. Ecosystem Services 2016, 21(Part B), 194-207.
- Everard M, Reed MS, Kenter JO. The ripple effect: Institutionalising pro-environmental values to shift societal norms and behaviours. Ecosystem Services 2016, 21(Part B), 230-240.
- Reed MS, Allen K, Attlee A, Dougill AD, Evans K, Kenter J, Hoy J, McNab D, Stead S, Twyman C, Scott A, Smyth MA, Stringer LC, Whittingham MJ. A Place-Based Approach to Payments for Ecosystem Services. Global Environmental Change 2017, 43, 92-106.
- Irvine KN, O'Brien L, Ravenscroft N, Cooper N, Everard M, Fazey I, Reed MS, Kenter JO. Ecosystem services and the idea of shared values. Ecosystem Services 2016, 21(Part B), 184-193.
- Teel TL, Anderson CB, Burgman MA, Cinner J, Clark D, Estevez RA, Jones JPG, McClanahan TR, Reed MS, Sandbrook C, St John FAV. Publishing social science research in Conservation Biology to move beyond biology. Conservation Biology 2018, 32(1), 6-8.
- Fazey I, Schapke N, Caniglia G, Patterson J, Hultman J, van Mierlo B, Sawe F, Wiek A, Wittmayer J, Aldunce P, Al Waer H, Battacharya N, Bradbury H, Carmen E, Colvin J, Cvitanovic C, D'Souza M, Gopel M, Goldstein B, Hamalainen T, Harper G, Henfry T, Hodgson A, Howden MS, Kerr A, Klaes M, Lyon C, Midgley G, Moser S, Mukherjee N, Muller K, O'Brien K, O'Connell DA, Olsson P, Page G, Reed MS, Searle B, Silvestri G, Spaiser V, Strasser T, Tschakert P, Uribe-Calvo N, Waddell S, Rao-Williams J, Wise R, Wolstenholme R, Woods M, Wyborn C. Ten essentials for action-oriented and second order energy transitions, transformations and climate change research. Energy Research and Social Science 2018, 40, 54-70.
- Stringer LC, Reed MS, Fleskens L, Thomas RJ, Le QB, Lala-Pritchard T. A New Dryland Development Paradigm Grounded in Empirical Analysis of Dryland Systems Science. Land Degradation and Development 2017, 28(7), 1952-1961.
- Reed MS, Vella S, Challies E, de Vente J, Frewer L, Hohenwallner-Ries D, Huber T, Neumann RK, Oughton EA, Sidoli del Ceno J, van Delden H. A theory of participation: What makes stakeholder and public engagement in environmental management work?. Restoration Ecology 2018, 26(S1), S7-S17.
- Webb NP, Marshall NA, Stringer LC, Reed MS, Chappell A, Herrick JE. Land degradation and climate change: Building climate resilience in agriculture. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 2017, 15(8), 450-459.
- Raymond CM, Reed M, Bieling C, Robinson GM, Plieninger T. Integrating different understandings of landscape stewardship into the design of agri-environmental schemes. Environmental Conservation 2016, 43(4), 350-358.
- Chubb J, Reed MS. The politics of research impact: academic perceptions of the implications for research funding, motivation and quality. British Politics 2018, 13(3), 295-311.
- Baird AJ, Evans CD, Mills R, Morris PJ, Page SE, Peacock M, Reed M, Robroek BJM, Stoneman R, Swindles GT, Thom T, Waddington JM, Young DM. Erratum to: Experimental evidence for sustained carbon sequestration in fire-managed, peat moorlands (Nature Geoscience, (2019), 12, 2, (108-112), 10.1038/s41561-018-0266-6). Nature Geoscience 2019, 12(11), 884-885.
- Reichard B, Reed MS, Chubb J, Hall G, Jowett L, Peart A, Whittle A. Writing impact case studies: a comparative study of high-scoring and low-scoring case studies from REF2014. Palgrave Communications 2020, 6.
- Thomas RJ, Reed MS, Clifton K, Appadurai AN, Mills AJ, Zucca C, Kodsi E, Sircely J, Haddad F, von Hagen C, Mapedza E, Woldearegay K, Shalander K, Bellon M, Le QB, Mabikke S, Alexander S, Leu S, Schlingloff S, Lala-Pritchard T, Mares V, Quiroz R. A framework for scaling sustainable land management options. Land Degradation & Development 2018, 29(10), 3272–3284.
- Cvitanovic C, Lof MF, Norstrom AV, Reed MS. Building university-based boundary organisations that facilitate impacts on environmental policy and practice. PLoS ONE 2018, 13(9), e0203752.
- Swart JAA, Zevenberg J, Ho P, Cortina J, Reed M, Derak M, Vella S, Zhao H, van der Windt HJ. Involving society in restoration and conservation. Restoration Ecology 2018, 26(S1), S3-S6.
- Reed MS, Bryce R, Machen R. Pathways to policy impact: a new approach for planning and evidencing research impact. Evidence & Policy: A Journal of Research, Debate and Practice 2018, 14(3), 431-458.
- Kenter JO, O'Brien L, Hockley N, Ravenscroft N, Fazey I, Irvine KN, Reed MS, Christie M, Brady E, Bryce R, Church A, Cooper N, Davies A, Evely A, Everard M, Fish R, Fisher JA, Jobstvogt N, Molloy C, Orchard-Webb J, Ranger S, Ryan M, Watson V, Williams S. What are shared and social values of ecosystems?. Ecological Economics 2015, 111, 86–99.
- Rust NA, Ptak EN, Graversgaard M, Iversen S, Reed MS, de Vries JR, Ingram J, Mills J, Neumann RK, Kjeldsen C, Muro M. Social capital factors affecting uptake of sustainable soil management practices: a literature review. Emerald Open Research - Sustainable Food Systems 2020, 2(8).
- Reichard B, Reed MS, Chubb J, Hall G, Jowett L, Peart A, Whittle A. Writing impact case studies: a comparative study of high-scoring and low-scoring case studies from REF2014. Palgrave Communications 2020, 6, 31.