Dr Paula Misiewicz

Supervisor Details

Contact Details

Agriculture and Environment, Harper Adams University

Scientific Background

Research Interests

My research focuses on sustainable soil management, particularly the interactions between agricultural machinery, soil and crop production. My main areas of interest include soil compaction, controlled traffic farming, tillage systems, tyre design and their effects on soil physical, chemical and biological properties, crop productivity and environmental sustainability.

I lead a long-term Traffic & Tillage research programme at Harper Adams University, established in 2011, investigating the effects of machinery traffic and tillage practices on soil health, crop performance and farm economics. My wider research interests include greenhouse gas emissions, soil carbon, nutrient cycling, life cycle assessment and the use of precision agriculture, sensors and agricultural robotics to improve soil management. I work closely with academic and industry partners in the UK and internationally to develop practical solutions for more productive and sustainable farming systems.

Research Groups

Harper Institute of Technology

Soil and Water Science Group

Supervision Style

In three words or phrases: Supportive, collaborative, and goal-oriented.

Provision of Training

I aim to provide appropriate training and guidance at the beginning of the PhD, drawing on my own expertise and that of experienced colleagues and researchers. As students develop their skills and confidence, I encourage them to become increasingly independent.

Progression Monitoring and Management

I prefer regular meetings to review progress, discuss challenges and agree on clear objectives and next steps. I encourage students to take responsibility for managing their research while providing guidance and support when needed.

Communication

I encourage open, friendly and regular communication, and students should feel comfortable discussing research challenges or any issues affecting their progress. I am happy to be contacted by email, Whatsapp or Teams at all hours of the day.

Meetings

PhD Students can expect scheduled meetings with me at least once per fortnight. These meetings will be face-to-face. I am usually contactable for an instant response on every working day.

Work Patterns

Certain tasks in my lab need to occur at set times, and students need to be able to commit to a rota/timetable shared with other members of the team.

Notice Period for Feedback

I need at least 2 weeks' notice to provide feedback on written work of up to 5,000 words.

MIBTP Project Details

Primary supervisor for:

Linking long-term soil functioning with the environmental sustainability of agricultural traffic and tillage systems

See the PhD Opportunities section to see if this project is currently open for applications via MIBTP.

Please Note: The main page lists projects via BBSRC Research Theme(s) quoted and then relevant Topic(s).

Linking long-term soil functioning with the environmental sustainability of agricultural traffic and tillage systems

Secondary Supervisor(s): Dr Leticia Chico-Santamarta, Peter Barnes

University of Registration: Harper Adams University

BBSRC Research Themes:

Sustainable Agriculture and Food (Plant and Crop Science)
Understanding the Rules of Life (Soil Science, Systems Biology)

Project Outline

Agricultural machinery traffic and tillage have major and lasting effects on soil structure and function. By altering soil density, pore space, aeration and water availability, they can influence soil carbon cycling, greenhouse-gas emissions and crop productivity. These long-term soil and crop responses contribute to the environmental sustainability of agricultural production but are often poorly represented in conventional life-cycle assessments, which frequently rely on generic emission factors and short-term assumptions.

This project will use the unique long-term Traffic and Tillage experiment established at Harper Adams University in 2011, which combines contrasting machinery traffic systems, including controlled and random traffic at different tyre inflation pressures, with deep, shallow and zero tillage. Previous research has generated long-term datasets on soil physical properties, soil carbon, greenhouse-gas emissions and crop performance, providing a unique opportunity to investigate how changes in soil functioning influence the environmental performance of agricultural management systems.

The research will quantify long-term relationships between traffic and tillage management, soil carbon dynamics, soil-derived greenhouse-gas emissions and crop productivity. These experimentally measured responses will then be integrated with data on machinery operations, fuel, fertiliser and other production inputs to develop a soil-informed life-cycle assessment framework. Conventional LCA approaches based on standard emission factors will be compared with assessments incorporating measured long-term soil and crop responses.

The project will determine whether accounting for changes in soil functioning alters conclusions about the environmental sustainability of contrasting traffic and tillage systems. It will provide a new systems-level understanding of the relationship between agricultural mechanisation, soil functioning and environmental performance.

Biological mechanisms regulating soil carbon and greenhouse-gas dynamics under long-term traffic and tillage management

See the PhD Opportunities section to see if this project is currently open for applications via MIBTP.

Please Note: The main page lists projects via BBSRC Research Theme(s) quoted and then relevant Topic(s).

Biological mechanisms regulating soil carbon and greenhouse-gas dynamics under long-term traffic and tillage management

Secondary Supervisor(s): Professor Simon Jeffery

University of Registration: Harper Adams University

BBSRC Research Themes:

Sustainable Agriculture and Food (Plant and Crop Science)
Understanding the Rules of Life (Microbiology, Plant Science)

Project Outline

Agricultural machinery traffic and tillage have major and lasting effects on soil structure and function. By changing soil density, pore space, aeration and water availability, they can influence the biological processes that control the cycling and storage of carbon and the production of greenhouse gases. However, the biological mechanisms linking long-term traffic and tillage management with soil carbon dynamics and greenhouse gas emissions remain poorly understood.

This project will use a unique long-term Traffic and Tillage experiment established at Harper Adams University in 2011. The experiment combines contrasting machinery traffic systems, including controlled and random traffic, with deep, shallow and zero tillage. Previous research has identified differences between these systems in soil physical properties, carbon dynamics and greenhouse gas emissions. The project will build on these findings to investigate the biological mechanisms underlying these responses.

The research will determine how long-term traffic and tillage affect soil microbial communities, their diversity and biological activity, and establish how these responses are related to the physical soil environment. Methods will combine field sampling with measurements of microbial biomass, soil respiration and enzyme activity, alongside DNA-based profiling of bacterial and fungal communities. These new biological data will be integrated with existing long-term datasets on soil physical properties, carbon and greenhouse gas emissions using statistical and multivariate approaches.

The project will provide new understanding of how agricultural management shapes the physical and biological soil environment and how these interactions regulate carbon cycling and greenhouse gas emissions, helping identify management practices that support productive, resilient and climate-smart agricultural soils.