Welcome to the Lincoln Institute for Agri-Food Technology

The Lincoln Institute for Agri-Food Technology (LIAT) aims to support and enhance productivity, efficiency and sustainability in food and farming through research, education and technology.

A specialist research institute of the University of Lincoln, our multi-disciplinary team brings together sector-leading expertise in a diverse range of subjects. The Institute is directed by Professor Simon Pearson, who has almost two decades of experience in management and Research and Development roles within the industry, including at some of the UK’s biggest retailers and producers.

LIAT currently has 10 permanent members of staff, including the UK’s first dedicated Professor in agri-robotics, and through its cross-sectoral membership can access world leading specialisms in agriculture, artificial intelligence, robotics, ecology, hydrology, animal welfare, biology, genetics, food manufacturing, mechanical engineering, microbial resistance, new product development, supply chain management and economics, to name a few.

The Institute’s researchers are engaged in the development of technologies which add value or solve challenges across the food chain, ‘from farm to fork’, working with partners in industry and academia locally, nationally and internationally. Collectively, their aim is to deliver the world class research and higher level skills the UK’s agri-food industries need now and in the future. The University of Lincoln is ranked in the top 200 in the world for Agriculture and Forestry in the QS World University Rankings 2019.

Its headquarters are at the University’s 200-hectare Riseholme Campus just north of Lincoln, where researchers enjoy access to a working farm, woodlands, grasslands and watercourses, LIAT also utilises the exceptional facilities at Lincoln’s main Brayford Pool Campus in the city centre and the National Centre for Food Manufacturing at Holbeach in southern Lincolnshire.