Curriculum Vitae First Name: Donal Last
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Dr Donal Murphy-Bokern - 1 - Kroge-Ehrendorf, Lohne, Germany Curriculum Vitae First name: Donal Last name: Murphy-Bokern Address: Lindenweg 12, 49393 Lohne, Germany Telephone: +49 (0)4442 802190 Mobile: 49 (0)160 92792475 e-mail: donal(at)murphy-bokern.com Website: www.murphy-bokern.com Nationality: Irish PROFILE Dr Donal Murphy-Bokern is a self-employed agricultural and environmental scientist based in Lohne, near Bremen in Germany. He specialises in the scientific support of public policy development, research strategy development, and research management in agriculture, food, bioenergy and land use. Research completed by him and his associates since 2007 includes work on food policy and climate change mitigation for the WWF UK and the Committee on Climate Change (UK Parliament) and the UK Department for International Development, the German government, the European Commission, and the European Parliament. He was involved in two EU FP7 projects ‘Legume Futures’, and ‘WATBIO’. He currently leads the Legumes Translated thematic network as the project’s science coordinator. He also works with the European Commission on research and innovation strategy development. The common aim of this work is excellence in the interactions between innovators, policymakers (including research policy), and research scientists. Maximising the impact of research depends on decisions made in the initiation of research programmes and how they are developed through to the use of research results after the research has ended. Donal Murphy-Bokern supports research strategy and management particularly in the areas of food systems and consumption, the development of farming systems, bioenergy systems, and nutrient cycles. He is particularly active in the development of sustainable protein sourcing and use in Europe and is the scientific advisor to Donau Soja supporting a European Protein Transition. Dr Murphy-Bokern has a broad agricultural science background extending across sector and policy boundaries and including economics and social science. This breadth is reinforced by the experience of leading a broad programme of agricultural and food research for the British government where he worked at a senior level for more than eight years in the Department of Food, Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) in Westminster. He led a wide range of Defra’s agricultural research programmes. He also worked closely with policymakers on a wide spectrum of agricultural and environmental policy areas. While in Defra, Dr Murphy-Bokern personally led a number of Defra research areas: novel crop protection products and strategies, organic farming, non-food crops and bioenergy, arable crop genetic improvement and biotechnology, crop physiology and decision support system www.murphy-bokern.com Dr Donal Murphy-Bokern - 2 - Kroge-Ehrendorf, Lohne, Germany development, systems analysis and life-cycle assessment for developing sustainable food systems. In 2006, he established Defra’s new R&D programme covering all Defra agricultural research linked to climate change policy and greenhouse gas mitigation. A number of prominent areas of change and public debate now can be traced back to research work initiated in Defra especially in sustainable food systems, public investment in plant breeding, and bioenergy. Prior to moving to MAFF/Defra, Donal Murphy-Bokern was employed by the German Ministry of Agriculture based in the Federal Centre for Agricultural Research (FAL) at Braunschweig (1993 – 1998). He conducted research on the management of spatial variability in soil using GPS based technology (now termed ‘precision-farming’) in 1993 and 1994. In the period 1995 to 1998, he led a research team conducting several research projects on the use of agricultural materials in construction and the application of life-cycle assessment to agricultural systems. This was one of the first uses of life-cycle assessment in agricultural research. Dr Murphy-Bokern moved from Ireland to the United Kingdom in 1986 to take up his first long-term appointment at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne where he managed the then newly-founded farmer-owned North of England Arable Centre (1986 – 1992). The NEAC pioneered participatory research in an academic environment and Dr Murphy-Bokern managed the development of the NEAC from a membership of 46 farmers in 1986 to 330 in 1992 - the largest such centre in the UK. He developed and delivered an agronomic information service based on a large field trials programme and research on the crop physiology of winter wheat, barley and oilseed rape. This field research focused on nitrogen fertiliser management and on predicting interactions between new cultivars and the environment of north-east England. The NEAC is now part of The Arable Group (TAG) and NIAB in the UK. Donal Murphy-Bokern gained a doctorate in philosophy (PhD) from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne for his research in the crop physiology of winter barley conducted part-time in addition to his work managing the NEAC there. He is a graduate of the National University of Ireland (NUI) having studied general agricultural science at University College Dublin between 1978 and 1983 (B.Agr.Sc.). He was then employed by UCD on a stipend and obtained a Master’s degree from the NUI for agronomic research on cereal cultivar mixtures. As an undergraduate student, he gained a total of two years practical farm experience, mostly in Co. Carlow and Co. Meath in Ireland. www.murphy-bokern.com Dr Donal Murphy-Bokern - 3 - Kroge-Ehrendorf, Lohne, Germany WORK EXPERIENCE April 2007 – Self-employed. 49393 Lohne-Ehrendorf, Germany. Present Independent scientist supporting European research strategy and management (Framework Programme 7 and Horizon 2020), research evaluation, and assessments. Leading research and innovation with a focus on protein and the nitrogen cycle; Special Scientific Advisor to the President of Donau Soja. January 1999 – Department of Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra). March 2007 Westminster, London, UK. Various related and overlapping roles in the direction and use of research in government including at a senior civil service level: Head of a Science Unit (1999-2006); Acting Head of Division and Farming and Food Science Co-coordinator; Programme manager for research on greenhouse gas emissions, ammonia emissions, climate change adaptation, and climate change mitigation. Responsible for a wide range of Defra and LINK R&D programmes. Provision of related input into policy working directly with senior policy makers, ministers, and the Defra Chief Scientific Advisor. January 1993 – Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Federal Agricultural Research Centre December 1998 (FAL), Bundesallee 50, D 38116, Braunschweig, Germany. Senior scientist (Wissenschaftlicher Angestellter/Wissenschaftliche Oberrat), research team leader. January 1993 to 30 March 1995: Working on spatial variation in soil and crop resources (‘precision farming’). Thereafter (April 1995 – December 1998), led a new research group specialising in supply chain assessment (LCA), industrial ecology and the role of sustainable consumption in agricultural development. The work focused on the use of agricultural materials in the building sector, particularly for insulation materials; the application of LCA to the assessment of farming systems. January 1986 – Department of Agriculture, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, December 1992 UK. Research Associate responsible for developing and managing the North of England Arable Centre Ltd. (a farmer-owned, university managed research and innovation company). September 1985 Free-lance work in various roles: – December The Irish Agricultural Development Authority (ACOT) writing video-text 1985 material; University College Dublin working on a survey of farmers’ quality of life as affected by succession (inheritance) arrangements. Six months in Temporary agronomist in a pesticide and seeds retail business in Ireland. 1985 1978 – 1983 Farm experience – a total of two years experience on five farms in Ireland, mostly in Co. Carlow and Co. Meath. www.murphy-bokern.com Dr Donal Murphy-Bokern - 4 - Kroge-Ehrendorf, Lohne, Germany EDUCATION AND TRAINING Bachelor of 1978 – 1983. National University of Ireland, University College, Dublin 4. Agricultural Basic and agricultural/environmental sciences; economics, social science, Science agricultural policy. Master of 1983 – 1984. National University of Ireland, University College, Dublin 4. Agricultural By research - the thesis is entitled ’An investigation into the merits of the Science use of cultivar mixtures under Irish conditions’. Degree of Doctor October 1987 – December 1992. University of Newcastle upon Tyne. of Philosophy Based on a part-time study conducted under University staff regulations. (PhD) The thesis is entitled 'Crop structure and crop productivity in winter barley, (Hordeum sativum)’. UK Civil Service UK civil senior service programmes in leadership and management. LANGUAGES English: Native speaker German: Fluent. MEMBERSHIPS Fellow of the British Society of Soil Science German Agricultural Society (DLG) www.murphy-bokern.com Dr Donal Murphy-Bokern - 5 - Kroge-Ehrendorf, Lohne, Germany MAJOR PROJECTS AND ASSIGNMENTS (AS SELF EMPLOYED, 2007 TO PRESENT) 2007-2008 WWF UK Environmental impacts of the UK food economy with particular reference to WWF Priority Places and the North-east Atlantic 2008-2009 WWF UK and the FCRN An assessment of greenhouse gas emissions from the UK food system and the scope for reduction by 2050.