Biography
Tim’s research is characterised by participatory and transdisciplinary approaches, including participatory mapping, scenario-building, living labs, and co-design methods that engage farmers, land managers, and rural communities. He applies mixed-methods research, combining qualitative inquiry, social network analysis, and economic and spatial analysis, underpinned by systems thinking.
His earlier research focused on agricultural technology transfer, aquaculture for rural livelihoods, smallholder vegetable production, indigenous crops, and the vulnerabilities of emerging ostrich farmers in South Africa. This work examined supply chain integration, biosecurity, and poverty alleviation schemes in rural contexts.
Tim has supervised a wide range of postgraduate research in agricultural science and rural development, including topics such as compliance frameworks in beef value chains, aquaculture effluent impacts on crop production, the socio-economic role of indigenous vegetables, and community crop-production project sustainability. He has also served as examiner for theses on climate change, gender and agriculture, and aquaculture strategy, and has contributed to capacity building through qualitative research training workshops and curriculum development.
Research
✅ CODECS (EU Horizon Europe)
– System-level analysis of digital technologies in agriculture, evaluating their economic, social, and environmental impacts across European farms and rural areas.
✅ COEVOLVERS (EU Horizon Europe)
– Focuses on enhancing community involvement in nature-based solutions (NbS) for climate adaptation and biodiversity resilience, using participatory governance models.
✅ RESAS: Behaviour Changes for Scotland’s Biodiversity Goals (Scottish Government-funded)
– Investigates the behaviour changes, incentives, and policy instruments needed to meet Scotland’s biodiversity targets, with a focus on rural actors, land managers, and communities.
✅ Virtual Commons / Virtual Farm Tours (The James Hutton Institute)
– Development of interactive digital tools (including virtual and augmented reality) to promote knowledge exchange, biosecurity, and community engagement in farm and woodland settings.
✅ Woodlands for All / Community-led governance of treescapes (Scotland)
– Research and co-development of tools to strengthen community stewardship and sustainable governance of woodlands, contributing to climate and biodiversity goals.
✅ Social media use for diversified farm businesses (Scotland)
– Study of how rural businesses adopt social media to support diversification, resilience, and market access.
Past research
✅ Supply chain participation for emerging ostrich farmers (Eastern Cape, South Africa)
– Focused on market integration, biosecurity, EU regulations, and capacity-building to enable emerging farmers’ participation in value chains.
✅ Aquaculture for sustainable rural livelihoods (Eastern Cape, South Africa)
– Explored the role of small-scale aquaculture in supporting marine bio-economy growth and poverty alleviation through participatory design.
✅ Small-scale vegetable production in rural communities (e.g. Tsengiwe village, Umzimvubu District)
– Investigated factors influencing sustainability and farmers’ perceptions in smallholder vegetable farming initiatives.
✅ Socio-economic role of indigenous vegetables in rural livelihoods (Ntuze community, KwaZulu-Natal)
– Analysed the contribution of indigenous crops to food security and household income.
✅ Small-scale aquaculture pond effluent impacts on crop production
– Assessed how aquaculture pond effluent affects the growth and development of crops such as Swiss chard.
✅ Horticultural and entomological research on citrus (South Africa)
– Conducted trials on citrus pruning, flowering, fruiting, and biological control of pests (e.g. Helicoverpa armigera).
✅ Social networking via mobile phones as an agricultural extension tool (Cacadu District)
– Studied the use of mobile technology to support smallholder farmer learning and extension services.
✅ Proactive Land Acquisition Debt assessment (South Africa)
– Analysed land reform finance mechanisms to support emerging farmers.
✅ East London Agro-processing Park feasibility study
– Investigated economic feasibility and design for agro-processing infrastructure.
✅ Euro-ZA Marine Education and Training projects (Erasmus+)
– Focused on higher education curriculum development and capacity building in maritime education.
