Building Agricultural Resilience Together: AGRIIH at Oxford Real Farming Conference
AGRIIH had a busy start to the year, working to bridge research and practice for agricultural resilience, with a successful Research Showcase, a panel at the Oxford Real Farming Conference and live-mural painting. February 10, 2026
Written by Dr Jing Zhang
AGRIIH Showcase brings researchers and partners together to explore agricultural resilience
The Agricultural Resilience Impact and Innovation Hub (AGRIIH) recently hosted the AGRIIH Showcase: Research and Action – Building Agricultural Resilience Together, at the Life and Mind Building, University of Oxford.
The evening brought together Oxford researchers and external partners for an informal, exhibition-style event focused on dialogue, exchange, and collaboration around agricultural resilience. Attendees included researchers from across disciplines as well as practitioners, policymakers, and other stakeholders visiting Oxford during the Oxford Farming Conference and Oxford Real Farming Conference.
The evening opened with welcome remarks from Professor Sir Charles Godfray FRS, Director of the Oxford Martin School, and Professor Nathalie Seddon, Founding Director of the Nature-based Solutions Initiative, who highlighted the importance of interdisciplinary research and collaboration with partners in addressing agricultural resilience.
Prof Sir Charles Godfray delivering the welcome address. Photography by John Cairns
Prof Nathalie Seddon delivering the welcome address. Photography by John Cairns.
Exhibition themes included:
- Agricultural challenges and resilience
- Working with nature for resilient farming
- Technology and innovation
- Healthy people, healthy planet
- Who shapes the future of agriculture?
- Co-creating resilient futures
These themes reflect priorities identified through AGRIIH’s work and ongoing dialogue between researchers and partners. Through conversations around the exhibition displays, participants explored how research, practice, and partnership can come together to support more resilient food and farming systems. Discussions highlighted the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, working closely with practitioners, and creating spaces where diverse perspectives can shape future research and action.
Dr Jen Lucey, Director of AGRIIH at the Research Showcase. Photography by John Cairns.
Dr Jing Zhang, Project and Knowledge Exchange Lead for AGRIIH, at the Research Showcase. Photography by John Cairns.
The Showcase forms part of AGRIIH’s broader mission to connect interdisciplinary research with real-world challenges in agriculture. By bringing together researchers and partners, AGRIIH is developing a collaborative platform for co-design and the identification of future research and funding pathways. AGRIIH welcomes engagement from organisations interested in working together on research, innovation, and funding initiatives, and provides a space for partners to shape research questions, approaches, and future programmes alongside Oxford researchers.
Photography by John Cairns
AGRIIH at the Oxford Real Farming Conference 2026: Co-creating agricultural resilience through research, practice and dialogue
AGRIIH took part in the Oxford Real Farming Conference (ORFC) 2026 through a dedicated session exploring how science and farming knowledge can work together to build more resilient food systems and a joint exhibition stall with The Agile Initiative.
Panel Session: Co-Creating Resilience: Nature, Farmers & Science
AGRIIH convened a session titled Co-Creating Resilience: Nature, Farmers & Science, chaired by Professor Dame E.J. Milner-Gulland (Department of Biology, University of Oxford).
The session brought together two Oxford researchers — Dr Monika Zurek (Food Systems Transformation Group, Environmental Change Institute) and Dr Jennifer Lucey (Director of AGRIIH, Nature-based Solutions Initiative, Smith School for Enterprise and the Environment) — alongside two farmers, George Bennett (Sandy Lane Farm) and Thomas McVeigh (Copperfield Enterprises Ltd).
The discussion explored how scientific research and local farming knowledge can together harness the power of nature to build agricultural resilience across the whole agri-food system.
Participants from farming, research, policy, business and civil society highlighted a persistent disconnect between academic research and on-the-ground practice, and emphasised the need to translate interdisciplinary science into forms that are accessible, relevant and useful for farmers. As one participant noted:
“Our job as farmers is to seek information. Your job as scientists is to make it accessible.”
Key themes included:
- Bridging science and practice: the need to translate interdisciplinary research into forms that are accessible, relevant and useful for farmers, while recognising where farmers already seek information and how knowledge travels in practice.
- Valuing farmer knowledge and participation: stronger support for farmer-led and participatory research, as well as the intermediaries and extension functions that connect research, practice and policy.
- Scaling resilience in real food systems: moving beyond pilots to approaches that are practical, realistic and scalable at farm and landscape levels, while recognising vulnerabilities in supply chains and the real price of food.
- Food, culture and resilience: reconnecting consumers with food production, food quality and ecosystem health, and strengthening food culture as a foundation for long-term resilience.
- Innovation in context: the role of technology, modelling and decision-making frameworks in supporting regenerative farming, when grounded in local communities and aligned with socially as well as ecologically sound farming systems.
Live mural-painting and research exhibition
A mural by Dr Cécile Girardin illustrates themes from the Oxford Real Farming Conference
The Agile-AGRIIH exhibition stall, located in The Catholic Chaplaincy alongside conference registration, served as a high-visibility hub for Oxford-based research on agriculture, food systems and nature recovery.
The stand showcased an Oxford researchers’ brochure, bringing together work from across disciplines, alongside selected reports and flyers. A live painting by Dr Cécile Girardin added a creative and reflective element, using agriculture and nature as central themes.
Throughout the conference, the stall provided a space for informal conversations between researchers, farmers, practitioners and conference participants, helping to surface shared interests, practical challenges and opportunities for collaboration. The stall was supported by colleagues from across Oxford attending ORFC, whose contributions helped animate the space over the course of the conference.
Together, the AGRIIH exhibition stall and session reflected the Hub’s broader mission: to create spaces where researchers, farmers and practitioners can learn from one another, co-design approaches, and develop pathways toward more resilient, nature-positive food systems.
Team members and colleagues at the AGRIIH & Agile Initiative exhibit, Oxford Real Farming Conference
Further information:
A catalogue of researchers and expertise related to nature, farming, and food systems at Oxford is available in the Researcher Brochure.
For enquiries or future engagement opportunities, please contact agriih@biology.ox.ac.uk.