Professor Sue Hartley OBE

Biography

Professor Sue Hartley OBE took up the role of Vice-President for Research at the University of Sheffield on 1 January 2020, where she leads all aspects of the University’s research activity. She is also Professor of Ecology in the Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, where her research focuses on agri-environmental policy and ecological approaches to improving the sustainability of crop production and its resilience to climate change.

Sue joined Sheffield from the University of York where she was Director of the York Environmental Sustainability Institute, a pioneering interdisciplinary research partnership generating solutions to global environmental challenges, such as food security, biodiversity loss and climate change.

She served as President of the British Ecological Society (2016 to 2017) and she is a trustee of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

In 2009 she delivered the Royal Institution Christmas lectures, becoming only the fourth woman to do so since they began in 1825.