Andrew Wilcox

Background

About Andrew Wilcox

Harper Adams University is located in Shropshire, UK, and we operate nationally and internationally in the delivery of our services. I am Head of the Agriculture and Environment (A&E) Department at the University. The A&E Department hosts over 50 academic staff and represents a unique range of technical expertise including- soil science - sustainable animal production - crop breeding, genetics, & agronomy - precision farming and GIS- farm business management - sustainable agriculture - sustainable energy - fresh produce production - environmental science & protection - countryside & wildlife management - forestry & woodland management My department undertakes work in four key areas of activity- delivery of high quality teaching- applied research - professional training and development - consultancy I am responsible for all the strategic and operational activities within the department and I have considerable experience in higher education academic leadership. My main professional interests are the facilitation and provision of agricultural and environmental education both in the UK and overseas. I have experience of higher education within Africa. and I worked on behalf of Harper Adams with Strathmore University in Kenya on the delivery of a 2-year professional qualification for potential employees of the machinery manufacturer, AGCO. We continue to work with AGCO in the development of agricultural education within Africa in partnership with the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) in South Africa. In addition to my interests in agricultural and environmental education, I also have a focus on Geographical Information Systems (GIS) education. I am keen to promote the use of GIS amongst non-GIS specialists and I undertook a Postgraduate Diploma in GIS to underpin my interests in the area. GIS is a subject area suited for online training delivery and I am working on bespoke on-line learning products in this area. I am most familiar with ESRI's ArcGIS Pro and associated software. My academic research interests have focused on agricultural ecology with a particular reference to conservation of farmland biodiversity and I have published extensively within this area. My specific research areas include the agro-ecology of field margins, beetlebanks and farmland birds.