Ali is an agroecologist with over 25 years’ experience in plant production and ecology. Ali leads the ‘Integrated Cropping Systems’ team within the Agroecology Group and currently leads the institute’s Science Challenge of supporting sustainable and resilient communities through social, economic and technical innovations. Her work contributes towards Integrated Pest and Disease Management (IPM) research at the Institute: for details of ongoing IPM research, please visit the IPM@hutton [2] website.
As pressure mounts to reduce dependence on agri-inputs, accompanied by uncertainty about the effects of climate change on crop production, the importance of diversifying agroecosystems for future sustainability is increasingly being realised. Ali’s research tests alternative cropping practices and pest control strategies to reduce reliance on external inputs and increase resilience to environmental stress. Her recent research has shaped current concepts about, and provided supporting evidence for, the design, management and ecological benefits of diversified agricultural systems and how to select crop types that optimise system functions. As co-ordinator of DIVERSify (EU Horizon 2020: 2017-2021), she led a consortium of 25 EU and international partner organisations to understand and demonstrate the benefits of mixed species cropping and identify crop species and cultivars that perform optimally when intercropped.
Ali works with scientists from diverse disciplines and actor groups, including farmers, agricultural industries, policy advisors and knowledge transfer organisations, to gain a cross-disciplinary understanding of the challenges of alternative cropping practices and the opportunities for innovation. Her work takes a collaborative approach with agricultural stakeholders in the UK and internationally to find out what knowledge already exists, where we can build on this with new research, including through on-farm participatory research and co-innovation, and how we can use open science to share data and new knowledge with the people who need it.
She is co-Chair of the Executive Committee for the annual Arable Scotland event, a member of the Impact Advisory Board for the University of St Andrews School of Mathematics, and an Associate Editor for Ecological Entomology.
Links:
[1] https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0252-2086
[2] http://ipm.hutton.ac.uk/
[3] https://communityfoodplanetaryhealth.org/our-projects/global-cfah