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Sustainability, regeneration and biodiversity in agriculture
This research cluster is developing improved methods of cultivation, to enable long-term sustainability, achieving net zero-carbon, and healthier food.
Livestock health and welfare
The focus of our research into livestock is to provide scientific support for welfare and animal health improvement and to provide robust welfare outcome methodologies that can be used in a commercial context.
Food policy, quality and security
This research cluster considers food supply as a subset of wider food systems. The activity considers food supply as a socio-economic and a socio-technical system which inform food safety, food supply and the moral framing and behaviours in supply chains.
Equine science
The cluster’s research focuses on the relationship between equine behavioural neuroscience, gastric health and dietary manipulation of stabled performance horses, and makes a significant contribution to horse welfare.
Rural economy
Researchers at the RAU understand that land and landscape are a dynamic entity, the product of millennia of human curation, in the countryside and small rural towns.
Publications
These documents list peer reviewed research papers, books, conference presentations, research and consultancy reports and details of our PhD students, including those graduating each year.
National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise (NICRE)
NICRE’s aims are to develop and discover the possibilities of the UK’s rural enterprises.
Cultured meat and farmers
In a two-year study, a team led by the RAU is asking what farmers think of cultured meat, then modelling how real farm businesses might fare if it becomes part of our diets.
Reversing the Gaze: Knowledge Stories and the Struggles for Community Land Rights in Scotland
This project uses knowledge and experiences from the global South as a fresh lens through which to review the nature of community land rights in Scotland.
Natural history collections and research
We hold several archival natural history collections that are closely linked to the history of the RAU.
Laboratories and fieldwork facilities
In summer 2025, we opened our new and enhanced Land Laboratories and Experimental Barn. These facilities at our Cirencester campus - the heart of our global University - not only improve our teaching facilities for students and postgraduates, but also further build the capacity of our research facilities and the associated research services our Laboratory Team can offer.
