Research
The Agri Futures Lab is an Imperial College network centre focusing on delivering high impact multi-disciplinary solutions to tackle current and future challenges in agri-sciences disciplines and sectors. The network is a platform for academic researchers from all faculties and departments across Imperial College to collaborate, exchange knowledge, and engage with end users.
Our Challenge
Some of the major challenges facing current society are due to the ever increasing in the world population which significantly increase the demands for food, fibre, and fuel requirements. The UN Food and Agricultural Organisation predicts the agricultural production will need to increase by an estimated 70% globally and by 100% in developing countries to sustain with population growth by 2050. The energy demands are also projected to increase up to 50% in the next twenty years. Therefore, there is a clear demand for innovation and technology to increase agricultural productivity in an environmentally, socially and economically sustainable way.
Our Mission
The AFL aims to:
- Provide opportunities to facilitate the development of high-impact multidisciplinary research targeted at the world’s grand challenges of Food and Fuel Security;
- Stimulate the development of platform technologies and next-generation solutions for the agri-sciences addressing the needs of agri-tech industries;
- Showcase the cutting edge science and innovation at Imperial College London and connect innovators with new academic researchers, commercial partners and policy makers.
Multi-disciplinary approach
The AFL supports multidisciplinary approach: It will be vital that both existing and new technologies be applied across the agri-sciences. Multidisciplinary approaches being the drivers enabling this through collaboration to facilitate the cross-fertilisation of new multi-disciplinary research ideas. Engagement with policy makers, industry and end-user stakeholders will help to provide a realistic and accurate problem-led pull for new technologies and insert an additional technical push into technologies that have already been established. In addition, interactions across sectors, e.g. with the pharmaceutical sector, will facilitate the translation of research discoveries towards agri-sciences applications.
Faculties and Departments involve in the Agri Futures Lab
Faculty of Engineering
- Bioengineering
- Chemical Engineering
- Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Dyson School of Design and Engineering
Faculty of Natural Sciences