My name is Emma Devereux, I am a PhD researcher on the European Research Council (ERC) funded HARVEST project at Leiden University in the Netherlands, and the University of Colorado Boulder in the USA.
I research wild plant nutrition, ecosystem dynamics, dietary ecology, and the place of plant foods in our evolution as a species. My research interests sit at the intersection of agriculture, sustainability, environmental science and environmental archaeology. My diverse research foci and wide experience have enabled me to see modern agricultural problems and problems of biodiversity loss in a new light, seeing opportunities for solutions from that deeper time-depth perspective.
I attended Trinity College Dublin for my undergraduate, reading Ancient History & Archaeology and Russian. I have a masters in Palaeobotany/ Environmental Archaeology from University College London and am currently studying for a master’s in Environmental Sustainability with University College Dublin, alongside my PhD. My background includes research and policy roles in the public, private and Higher Education sectors in the UK and Ireland (working at the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets-Ofgem, DEFRA, and with the Electoral Commission), as Principal Chief Technician of Biological Anthropology at the University of Cambridge, as well as specialist work within the UK museums sector (British Museum, Museum of London).
I am a farmer’s daughter from a mixed tillage/beef/dairy farm in rural Ireland. I have been passionate about sustainable food production since childhood, encouraged by my father who always criticized the role of pesticides in reducing biodiversity. In a changing world, I urgently advocate for food producers and food education. Global communications are today able to promote information to the whole world- both good and bad. I see it as critical and crucial to lend my voice to communicating science, accurate facts, and reason to the public, especially young people who are overwhelmed with information and different media.
I hope you find some of the information on this website informative, or that it challenges you to research your food and dietary choices a bit deeper, from more perspectives. Importantly, for most of those involved in food production and environmental science, we are all in this together.