Nick Holden’s research focuses on the sustainability of agriculture and food chains, emphasizing three main areas: Life Cycle Assessment, Soil Quality (sensing and visual methods), and Agricultural Systems Technology. With a background in geographical and soil sciences to PhD level, he has previously worked as an NERC Research Fellow (UK) and a Newman Scholar (Ireland), researching water and nutrient transport processes in soils and the impact of soil structure. His work evolved to include the environmental impacts of natural resource exploitation, including peatlands, forests, and agriculture, and now centers on the holistic assessment of food chain sustainability, particularly in livestock production, dairy processing, and waste valorization.

As a member of the Biosystems Engineering discipline since 1998, Professor Holden teaches life cycle assessment, green technology projects, precision agriculture, and research methods. He serves as Head of Subject for Agricultural Systems Technology and has led the development of a new BAgrSc degree in the field. Additionally, he is Head of Teaching and Learning at the school level. Professor Holden is a Principal Investigator in the UCD Earth Institute and UCD Institute of Food and Health, leading the Food Chain Sustainability theme. He is an SFI-funded PI in major projects such as CONSUS and BEACON and a work package leader in three H2020 projects.

LINKS

https://people.ucd.ie/nick.holden