Rate My Professor Guy Kirk

Professor Guy Kirk is the Professor of Soil Systems at the Centre for Soil, Agrifood and Biosciences, School of Water, Energy and Environment, Cranfield University. He joined Cranfield in February 2003, having previously spent 13 years at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines as Soil Chemist and then Head of the Soil and Water Sciences Division. Earlier, he completed a DPhil in Plant Sciences at the University of Oxford (1981–1985) and post-doctoral research in the University's Soil Science Laboratory (1985–1987). He also holds a BSc (Hons) in Chemistry and Soil Science from Newcastle University (1978–1981) and was on sabbatical in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Cambridge between IRRI and Cranfield (2001–2002). Kirk is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and Associate Editor of the European Journal of Soil Science. He has attracted funding from BBSRC, NERC, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, FCDO, Defra, and the British Geological Survey for projects on rice tolerance to iron toxicity and zinc deficiency, arsenic and metal contamination in rice, soil carbon balances, and radionuclides in soils.

Kirk's research centres on physical, chemical, and biological processes in soils, developing methods to quantify soil properties and functions, and modelling soil systems from microbial to continental scales. His work has advanced understanding of soil carbon dynamics, root-soil interactions for nutrient acquisition in crops like rice, and plant adaptations to problem soils. Key publications include 'Carbon losses from all soils across England and Wales 1978–2003' (Bellamy et al., Nature, 2005), which reported widespread declines in soil organic carbon; 'Climate change: carbon losses in the Alps' (Kirk, Nature Geoscience, 2016); 'The greenhouse gas impacts of converting food production in England and Wales to organic methods' (Smith et al., Nature Communications, 2019); 'Arsenic contamination of rainfed versus irrigated rice' (Ingram et al., Environmental Pollution, 2025); his authored book 'The Biogeochemistry of Submerged Soils' (Wiley, 2004); and over 140 other papers with more than 12,000 citations and an h-index of 57 on Google Scholar. His contributions have had significant impact on soil science, agriculture, and climate mitigation strategies.