Katie Marie Manning

My work takes a systems approach to climate change, drawing on the political, economic and social dimensions of climate mitigation and adaptation.

I undertook my PhD at the University of Oxford, looking at the role of human adaptation to past climatic change in northern Africa. On completion of my PhD. In recent years, my research focus has shifted to the challenge of contemporary and future climate change. In 2020, I joined the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, leading on the systems analysis of land use for the upcoming government Land Use Framework.

Today, my work focuses on the food and land use systems, and the need for science, policy and business to work together to develop the systemic transformations that are required to build a sustainable future. I specifically focus on the use of system dynamic modelling, and the development of decision-support tools in the development of climate resilient land use practices. I am also interested in the wider system changes that are needed for a sustainable future,in both the food we eat and the energy we consume.

I am currently a Co-I on a Maximising UK Adaptation to Climate Change (MACC) research project, titled Joined Up Landscapes (JUL), which aims to enhance the contribution of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) to climate change adaptation in the UK agricultural sector in the medium to long term.
I also work as a consultant on the current Defra group Environmental Science Research, Development and Evidence (ES RDE) Framework.