After completing my BSc in Environmental Science from the University of Leeds I returned home to Uganda and co-founded the Uganda Carbon Bureau- an organisation that works to provide access to the carbon markets for Ugandans. I began my PhD in Biological Sciences in 2009 at the University of Aberdeen- measuring and modelling carbon losses from organic soils undergoing land use change in Indonesia. I spent 16 months living in Western Sumatra, working in oil palm and peat swamp forests. Fieldwork involved sampling of the peat and measuring CO2 emissions from the soils.

Areas of research that are of particular interest to me include; tropical organic soils, land use change, understanding land use and land management decision making, soil carbon modelling and soil sampling and fieldwork. I am also particularly keen to engage at all levels, especially at a local level, and work to ensure participatory community engagement into research and knowledge sharing

Farmer, J., Matthews, R. Smith, J. U., Smith, P., and Singh, B. K. 2011. “Assessing Existing Peatland Models for Their Applicability for Modelling Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Tropical Peat Soils.” Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 3 (5): 339–349. doi:10.1016/j.cosust.2011.08.010. Farmer , J., Matthews, R., Smith, P., Smith, J. U. 2013. The Tropical Peatland Plantation- Carbon Assessment Tool: estimating CO2 emissions from tropical peat soils under plantations. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for lobal Change. 1-23. Farmer, J., Matthews, R., Smith, P., Langan, C., Hergoualc’h, K., Verchot, L. V., & Smith, J. U. 2014. Comparison of methods for quantifying soil C stocks in tropical peats. Geoderma 214, 177-18