Professor Peter Smith | The School of Biological Sciences

Professor Peter Smith

FRS, FRSE, FNA, FEurASc, FRSB, F I Soil Sci.

Chair in Plant & Soil Science

Email Address: pete.smith@abdn.ac.uk
Telephone Number: +44 (0)1224 272702
Office Address: Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences
School of Biological Sciences
University of Aberdeen
23 St Machar Drive (Room G45)
Aberdeen, AB24 3UU
Scotland, UK
School/Department: School of Biological Sciences

Biography

After obtaining a PhD in 1991, Pete Smith worked as a Higher- then Senior-Scientific Officer at the MAFF Central Science Laboratory until 1994. He then worked as a Band 6 and Band 5 Senior Research Scientist at Rothamsted Research before joining the University of Aberdeen as a Senior Lecturer in 2001.

He became a Reader in 2003, and Professor of Soils & Global Change in 2005. His main areas of expertise are in modelling greenhouse gas / carbon mitigation, bioenergy, biological carbon sequestration, global food systems modelling and greenhouse gas removal technologies.

He is co-leader with Prof Jo Smith of the Environmental Modelling Group (2 Academic staff, 2 Senior Research Fellows, 15 Post-docs, 12 PhDs). He is also Science Director of Scotland's Climate Change Centre of Expertise (www.climatexchange.org.uk), and was Director of Food Systems of the Scottish Food Security Alliance-Crops (www.sfsa-crops.org), and Theme Leader of the University-wide theme, Environment and Food Security (www.abdn.ac.uk/environment-food-security/), until 2015. He is editor for Global Change Biology and Global Change Biology Bioenergy.

He was a Royal Society-Wolfson Research Merit Award holder (2008-2013), Royal Society Research Fellow (2008-2013), and is a Fellow of the Society of Biology (FSB; elected 2008), a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE; elected 2009), a Foreign Fellow of the Indian National Science Acedemy (FNA; elected 2017); a Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences (EurASc; elected 2018) and a Fellow of the Royal Society (London; elected 2017).

Memberships and Affiliations

Internal Memberships

Science Director of Scotland’s Climate Change Centre of Expertise (2011-present)

External Memberships

Science Director of Scotland’s Climate Change Centre of Expertise (2011-present)
Director-Food Systems of the Scottish Food Security Alliance – Crops (2013-2016)
Theme Leader of cross-University theme on Environment & Food Security (2012-2015)
Member of Science and Technical Committee for the International 4per1000 initiative (2016-2018)
Member of Science Advisory Board to UK Global Food Security programme (2016-present)
Convening Lead Author of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Claimet Change and Land (2016-2019)
Convening Lead Author for Agriculture and Forestry Chapter of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report, Mitigation volume (2010-2014)
Convening Lead Author of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report, Mitigation volume, Chapter 8 Agriculture (2004-2007)
Lead Author for Cross Sectoral Perspectives Chapter of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report, Mitigation volume (2018-present)
Lead Author of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Good Practice Guidelines 2006 (2004-2006)
Convening Lead Author of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Good Practice Guidelines for Greenhouse Gas Inventories for Land-Use, Land-Use Change & Forestry (2002-2004).
Convening Lead Author for UN-FAO Status of World Soil Resources Report (2014-2015)
Scientific Steering Group member of International Soil Carbon Network (2013-present)
Member of DfID’s Research Advisory Group (2017-present)
Member of Defra’s Science Advisory Council (2011-2013)
Science Leader (and management committee member) for the UK community land surface model of the UK global climate model: JULES (soil C & N component) (2007-2014).
Expert Advisor on bioenergy issues to UK Committee on Climate Change (2011)
UK National Ecosystem Assessment Expert Group Member (2009-2011)
Coordinating Lead Author for UK National Ecosystem Assessment Chapter on Regulating Services (2009-2011).
UK Foresight Project on Global Food and Farming Futures, Expert Review Leader on Competition for Land (2009-2010).
Member of Programme Development Group for the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (2008-2013).
New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre’s International Science Advisory Group (ISAG) (2010-present).
Royal Society of Edinburgh Convener for the Organismal and Environmental Biology sectional committee (A3) (2011-2013)
Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellowship Committee Member (2009-2013)
Royal Society of Edinburgh BP Fellowship Committee Member (2010-present)
Steering Committee Member of European Union – Framework V/VI CarboEurope Consortium (2002-2003)
Lead Author for the IPCC Special Report on Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (published in 2000)
Member of IPCC/OECD Working Group on the IPCC Revised Guidelines for national greenhouse gas inventories (1996)
Chair of Global Change and Terrestrial Ecosystems (GCTE)’s Global Soil Organic Matter Network (SOMNET) (1996-2002)
Co-leader of GCTE's research focus on Soil Organic Matter (1996-2000)
Professorial selection committee for Danish Institute of Ag. Sciences (2002-2003)
NERC/BBSRC Soil Science Advisory Committee member (2003-2008)
Member of the International Geosphere Biosphere Program (IGBP) Global Carbon Cycle Project (1998-present).
Chair and Convenor of EU-Terrestrial Ecosystems Research Initiative (TERI) Workgroup 8 on Policy Conflicts in Terrestrial Ecosystems Research (1999)
Management Committee of EU-COST Action 627 “Carbon Storage in Grasslands” (2000-2006)
Workgroup 3 (modelling) Chair of EU-COST Action 627 “Carbon Storage in Grasslands” (2000-2006)
European Climate Change Programme Working Group Agriculture (WG7) member (2001)
European Climate Change Programme Working Group “Soil Carbon Sinks” (WG7a) member (2002)
European Climate Change Programme Working Group Research (WG6) member (2001)
Member of Scientific Organising Committee of European Society of Agronomy (ESA) annual modelling symposia 1999 and 2001
International Review Panel member of Australian Greenhouse Office National Carbon Accounting System (1999-2001)
International Scientific Steering Committee member of the Federal US-funded multi-institutional project on carbon sequestration in US agriculture, CASMGS (2001-2005).
Steering Committee of International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development-International Policy Council Platform on Climate Change, Agriculture and Trade (2009-2010)
UK Co Chair of Climate Mitigation and Adaptation Working Group of UK-China Sustainable Agriculture Innovation Network (2009-2013).
Associate Editor for the Journal of Environmental Quality (1997-2003)
Editorial Board Member of Acta Agronomica Hungarica (1998-present)
Editorial Board Member of International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability (2006–present)
Editorial Board Member of Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment (2006-2015).
Editorial Board Member of Greenhouse Gas Management & Measurement (2010-present).
Editorial Board Member of Journal of Subtropical Resources and Environment (2006-present)
Editorial Board Member of Pedosphere (2014-present)
Editorial Board of Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability (2015-present)
Editorial Board of Land Degradation and Development (2016-2017)
Editorial Board of Current Research in Environmental Sustainability (2019-present)
Editor of Global Change Biology (2007-present)
Editor of Global Change Biology Bioenergy (2009-present)
Subject Editor (Ecology, Conservation and Global Change Biology) of Royal Society Open Science (2019-present).

Research

Research Overview

Global change impacts on ecosystems, soils, agricultural and land based options to mitigate climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, environmental and agricultural sustainability, global carbon cycle, ecosystem modelling, food security, ecosystem services, bioenergy (including BECCS)

Current Research

Numerous projects on the above areas funded mainly by the research councils and the EU

Collaborations

Numerous - all over the world

Funding and Grants

Funding during last 10 years

Title	Funding body	Dates	Partner share (£)
Are tropical uplands regional hotspots for methane and nitrous oxide?	NERC	01/03/10-28/02/13	358,391
Estimates of future agricultural greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation in China	Defra/DfID	01/11/09-30/10/12	425,569
GHG Europe	EU	01/01/10-30/09/13	324,687
Provide a Quantitative Estimate of and Review the Contribution of Priority Habitats to Mitigation of Climate Change	Defra	01/01/10-30/03/11	42,140
Spatial mapping and evaluation of energy crop distribution in GB to 2050	NERC/UKERC	01/04/10-30/10/11	110,179
GACA	Unilever	01/04/10-30/04/11	21,104
CARBONES	EU	01/05/10-30/04/13	87,273
Review of GHG emissions from agriculture	Unilever	01/05/10-31/05/10	3,783
Policy options for LULUCF in Europe	EU	10/11/09-09/11/10	8,244
GHG emissions from agriculture	Princeton / HP Foundation	01/05/10-30/08/10	6,667
Accounting for the GHG impacts of LULUC due to biobased ingredients	Unilever	22/08/10-31/03/11	47,336
Interaction between C, N and water in UK soils (Homan Wong's PhD)	NERC	01/04/10-30/09/13	75,000
UK NEA Coordinating Lead Author fund	UNEP	01/07/10-31/03/10	10,000
Scoping study SP1105-populating the land use cmponent of the LULUCF GHG Inventory	Defra/NERC	01/07/10-02/03/10	32,653
India Partnering award	BBSRC	01/05/10-30/04/14	24,476
GHG mitigation from Chinese agriculture	NERC	01/07/10-31/11/10	6,352
Development of an assessment on GHG emissions from the agricultural sector	FAO	24/08/10-23/11/10	7,700
Jenny Farmer PhD project	CLSM/Macaulay	01/09/09-30/08/12	3,000
Cool livestock farming in Europe	Greenpeace International	01/11/10-30/04/11	4,315
Jon Hillier KET Award	University of Aberdeen	12/12/10-30/07/10	12,175
InveN2Ory	Defra	01/12/10-31/03/15	694,858
Data management and modelling for the agricultural GHG inventory	Defra	01/12/10-31/03/15	60,000
Andy Robertson PhD	Shell/CEH	01/02/11-31/01/14	48,000
Centre of Expertise on Climate Change - Mitigation	Scottish Government	01/04/11-31/03/14	522,270
Committee on Climate Change - Bioenergy Expert	CCC	01/04/11-31/12/11	6,674
ELUM	ETI	01/06/11-31/04/14	599,800
Centre of Expertise on Climate Change - Directorate	Scottish Government	01/04/11-31/03/16	210,000
RSE International Exchange Programme India	Royal Society of Edinburgh	19/09/11-16/10/11	2,100
SmartSoil	EU	01/11/11-30/07/15	299,540
Iniobong Essiet PhD College funding	CLSM	01/10/11-30/09/14	9,000
IPCC CLA Support	DECC	01/04/11-31/03/14	30,000
Impact on global ecosystem services of UK energy supply	UKERC	01/01/12-31/03/14	300,000
SEER	ESRC	01/03/12-31/12/12	43,619
RSE International Exchange Programme (Rafaele Casa)	Royal Society of Edinburgh	02/06/12-23/06/12	1,813
Saana Tykka's PhD fund	James Hutton Institute	01/10/12-31/03/16	42,000
Permafrost catchments in transition: hydrological controls on carbon cycling and greenhouse gas budgets	NERC	01/10/12-31/09/16	273,875
FACCE-JPI MACSUR Cropland Hub	BBSRC	01/08/12-31/07/15	64,734
EFS Theme Budget	University of Aberdeen	01/09/12-31/08/13	30,000
Saana Tykka - 51232501 -RTSG PhD funding	University of Aberdeen	01/09/12-31/03/16	3,000
Joseph Oyesiku-Blakemore - 51233548-RTSG PhD funding	University of Aberdeen	01/09/12-31/03/16	3,000
GREENHOUSE	NERC	01/04/13-31/03/17	211,388
Pete Smith secondment to the JHI (10%)	James Hutton Institute	01/08/12-31/03/16	61,070
The Counterfactual land uses to bioenergy crops (Phase I and II)	DECC	01/12/12-31/01/14	170,000
Capture crop and grassland management impact in UK soil carbon LULUCF Inventory	Defra	22/10/12-28/02/14	98,094
Wales Glastir Axis II Project	Welsh Government	01/05/13-31/08/14	51,823
Khadiza Begum PhD fund	CLSM	01/08/13-30/07/16	3,000
Henri de Ruiter's PhD fund	EFS Theme	01/10/13-31/03/17	17,500
Impacts of sugar cane production in Brazil	BBSRC	31/07/14-30/07/18	48,980
India diet health and environmental impacts	Wellcome Trust	01/11/14-31/10/16	25,146
Scaling soil process modelling to national	Irish EPA	01/01/13-31/12/14	9,633
Dagmar Henner PhD RTSG (CLSM 50%)	Shell/CLSM	01/10/14-31/03/18	1,500
Dagmar Henner PhD RTSG (Shell 50%)	Shell/CLSM	01/10/14-31/03/18	31,759
Renaud Heckle PhD - £1k per year	CLSM	01/10/14-31/03/18	3,000
Laura Philips PhD - £1k per year	CLSM	01/10/14-31/03/18	3,000
MAGLUE	EPSRC	01/01/15-31/12/17	169,299
U-Grass	NERC	01/07/15-30/06/18	259,798
DEVIL	Belmont Forum (via NERC)	01/02/15-31/01/20	399,997
Global N and India Mitigation Strategies Analysis	CIMMYT	01/02/15-31/07/16	193,972
Science based emissions targets for agriculture and forestry commodities	KR Foundation	01/05/2015-31/05/16	216,168
MACSUR2	BBSRC	01/06/15-31/05/17	52,782
ADVENT	NERC	01/07/15-30/06/18	181,712
Amy Molotoks EastBio PhD fund	EastBio	01/10/15-30/04/19	17,500
N-Circle	BBSRC/Newton Fund	01/01/16-31/12/19	2,403,479
CXC-2	Scottish Government	01/04/16-31/02/21	131,968
Including perennial crops in the Cool Farm Tool	NERC	01/04/16-28/02/17	96,532
Developing a Modelling Tool to Assist with Prioritising Investments in Natural Capital	Defra (via University of Exeter)	01/01/17-30/06/17	6,000
Assess-BECCS	UKERC	01/03/17-28/02/19	400,000
Juan Pablo Inamagua RTSG	Uni. Aberdeen	01/08/17-30/07/18	3,000
Soils-R-GRREAT	NERC and others	20/06/17-31/05/21	420,898
SHEFS	Welcome Trust		359,072
BALI project	NERC	01/04/14-31/03/18	209,366
Ziyin (Sally) Shang PhD - £1k per year	SBS/CSC	01/10/17-30/09/21	3,000
Yang Guo PhD - £1k per year	SBS/CSC	01/10/17-30/09/21	3,000
VERIFY	EU	01/02/18-31/01/22	234,614
CIRCASA	EU	01/04/18-31/03/22	123,768
AFRICAP	NERC	01/10/17-31/12/21	383,410
SUPERG	EU	01/06/18-31/05/23	419,702
UNISECO	EU	01/05/18-30/04/21	264,846
BEIS contribution to Pete Smith CLA role	BEIS	01/06/17-30/07/19	20,000
Juan Pablo Inamagua IRSAE travel grant	IRSAE	20/03/18-19/03/19	739
Land Use Modelling Review - Valuing Nature Network	NERC	01/12/18-31/05/19	57,000
		Total	12622841

Publications

Update

Biography

Memberships and Affiliations

Research Overview

Current Research

Collaborations

Funding and Grants

Funding during last 10 years

The legacy effect of long-term nitrogen fertilization on nitrous oxide emissions

Intensified river salinization alters nitrogen-cycling microbial communities in arid and semi-arid regions of China

A comparative life cycle assessment of the synthesis of mesoporous silica materials at small and large scale.

Emerging investigator series: predicted losses of sulfur and selenium in european soils using machine learning: a call for prudent model interrogation and selection

Soil application of high-lignin fermentation byproduct to increase the sustainability of liquid biofuel production from crop residues

A systematic analysis and review of soil organic carbon stocks in urban greenspaces

Sustainable bioenergy contributes to cost-effective climate change mitigation in China

Are Biomass Feedstocks Sustainable? A Systematic Review of Three Key Sustainability Metrics

On the adjusted N2O emission factor in dry subhumid, semiarid, and arid regions

Enhanced response of soil respiration to experimental warming upon thermokarst formation

Biological Carbon Sequestration Technologies

Negative correlation between soil salinity and soil organic carbon variability

Ammonium enrichment in livestock manure driven by ammonia-abatement practices can reduce nitrous oxide emissions

Towards an integrated view on microbial CH4, N2O and N2 cycles in brackish coastal marsh soils: a comparative analysis of two sites

The global potential for mitigating nitrous oxide emissions from croplands

Environmental, social and economic perceptions of local food production: a case study of Aberdeenshire farmers’ markets

Global cropland nitrous oxide emissions in fallow period are comparable to growing-season emissions

A restatement of the natural science evidence base concerning grassland management, grazing livestock and soil carbon storage

Is tree planting an effective strategy for climate change mitigation?

Projected soil carbon loss with warming in constrained Earth system models

Cover crop studies: The need for more reliable data

Building soil to reduce climate change impacts on global crop yield

Advances in biorenewables-resource-waste systems and modelling

Risk to rely on soil carbon sequestration to offset global ruminant emission

Cover crops do not increase soil organic carbon stocks as much as has been claimed: what is the way forward?

Eco-physiology and environmental impacts of newly developed rice genotypes for improved yield and nitrogen use efficiency coordinately

Spatially targeted nature-based solutions can mitigate climate change and nature loss but require a systems approach

Scoping Potential Routes to UK Civil Unrest via the Food System: Results of a Structured Expert Elicitation

The consolidated European synthesis of CO2 emissions and removals for the European Union and United Kingdom: 1990-2020

Trade-offs in carbon-degrading enzyme activities limit long-term soil carbon sequestration with biochar addition

Methane emissions from rice paddies globally: A quantitative statistical review of controlling variables and modelling of emission factors

Soil organic carbon stocks potentially at risk of decline with organic farming expansion

Evaluation of the ECOSSE Model for Estimating Soil Respiration from Eight European Permanent Grassland Sites

Greenhouse gas and ammonia emission mitigation priorities for UK policy targets

Simulating soil salinity dynamics, cotton yield and evapotranspiration under drip irrigation by ensemble machine learning

The role of grassland for erosion and flood mitigation in Europe: A meta-analysis

A Horizon Scan to support Chemical Pollution related policymaking for sustainable and climate resilient economies

Agroecology as a transformative approach to tackle climatic, food, and ecosystemic crises

Carbon and water footprints of major crop production in India

Planting trees in livestock landscapes to protect soil and water also delivers carbon sequestration

Novel cropping-system strategies in China can increase plant protein with higher economic value but lower greenhouse gas emissions and water use

An Overview of Permanent Grassland Grazing Management Practices and the Impacts on Principal Soil Quality Indicators

Development of DNDC-BC model to estimate greenhouse gas emissions from rice paddy fields under combination of biochar and controlled irrigation management.

Facing climate change and improving emergency responses in Southern America by analysing urban cyclonic wind events

The role of rice cultivation in changes in atmospheric methane concentration and the Global Methane Pledge

Avoiding emissions versus creating sinks-Effectiveness and attractiveness to climate finance

The contribution of environmental science to mental health research: A scoping review

The consolidated European synthesis of CH4 and N2O emissions for the European Union and United Kingdom: 1990-2019

Ensemble machine learning for modeling greenhouse gas emissions at different time scales from irrigated paddy fields

Residual correlation and ensemble modelling to improve crop and grassland models

Refine

Books and Reports

Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings

Contributions to Conferences

Contributions to Journals

Contributions to Specialist Publications

Non-textual Forms

Other Contributions

On the adjusted N₂O emission factor in dry subhumid, semiarid, and arid regions