Natasha Grist specialises in climate change, food systems, farming and international development, aiming to influence strategy and technical programmes that improve people’s farming practices and livelihoods across the world.
Natasha has been back at UEA since January 2020, teaching on agriculture and climate change. From November 2020, Natasha is funded by the John Innes Foundation to address the urgent challenges of agriculture, food security and sustainable development. She will be fostering a coherent programme of activity and capacity building, bringing together the wealth of science research at UEA, Tyndall Centre, the John Innes Centre and the Norwich Research Park, and their national and international partners.
During her ten years before this at the Overseas Development Institute and Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, Natasha’s applied research focussed on the processes of how climate and livelihood innovations are embedded on-farm and in communities in developing countries, and how institutions mainstream climate resilience into strategy and programming. This included technical policy advice, programme design and evaluation and stakeholder engagement at all levels. She was Head of Research for the Climate Development Knowledge Network (CDKN), establishing a £13m research fund with innovative funding streams, capacity building and partnerships development. She completed her PhD at UEA in 2005, and a post-doc at Tyndall UEA in 2008 and has international experience in many countries in East and West Africa, and Brazil and Nepal.
Since Lockdown in early 2020, Natasha has supported Norwich’s recent start-up business Goodery, a grocery marketplace / ‘foodhub’ that connects local farmers, ethical business and ‘conscious’ consumers, helping with their sustainability strategy, research and links with the local farming community. See www.goodery.co.uk. Natasha is also an active member of the Sustainable Living Initiative in Norwich. See grow-our-own.co.uk.
