I'm an agro-ecologist who has specialised in sustainable agriculture, land management and food systems. My research has addressed competition between arable weeds and crops; the impacts of farming systems on biodiversity (including organic and GM); national surveys of biodiversity and land use; the assessment of ecosystem services from agricultural land; systems for measuring and monitoring ecological processes; defining and measuring the concept of sustainable intensification of farming and ensuring a sustainable and secure system of food supply for cities. You can contact me on firbank@firbank-ecosystems.co.uk
If you want to look at my photos (including of research sites and visits) you have come to the wrong place - you should be here
If you want to look at my photos (including of research sites and visits) you have come to the wrong place - you should be here
Going part time
I have now gone part time at the University, and will be retiring from the University in September, but I will continue working for EFSA. I am therefore stripping back this website before it goes out of date! Blogs and articles will still be here
I have now gone part time at the University, and will be retiring from the University in September, but I will continue working for EFSA. I am therefore stripping back this website before it goes out of date! Blogs and articles will still be here
The Environmental Risk Assessment of Gene Drive Modified Insects
It is now possible to engineer insects so that they can display traits that would not normally spread through natural selection. This means that it may become possible to control populations of pests and disease vectors by manipulating their genetics, with potential benefits to people but also raising the possibility of affecting ecosystems in unpredictable and undesirable ways. EFSA has been asked by the European Commission to check whether the environmental risks of such releases would be covered by existing regulations, and in turn I have been asked to chair a new Working Group looking into this. The key is to understand what the risks might actually be. We held a workshop in May 2019 that worked with stakeholders to help with the problem formulation, using insect vectors of human diseases and or insect crop pests as examples. We have now presented our draft report, which was open for responses here, which we are now considering. I have also starred in a public information video on gene drives prepared with EFSA, and to be found here.
It is now possible to engineer insects so that they can display traits that would not normally spread through natural selection. This means that it may become possible to control populations of pests and disease vectors by manipulating their genetics, with potential benefits to people but also raising the possibility of affecting ecosystems in unpredictable and undesirable ways. EFSA has been asked by the European Commission to check whether the environmental risks of such releases would be covered by existing regulations, and in turn I have been asked to chair a new Working Group looking into this. The key is to understand what the risks might actually be. We held a workshop in May 2019 that worked with stakeholders to help with the problem formulation, using insect vectors of human diseases and or insect crop pests as examples. We have now presented our draft report, which was open for responses here, which we are now considering. I have also starred in a public information video on gene drives prepared with EFSA, and to be found here.