Professional summary

Kirsty is a Data and Digital Social Scientist in the Data and Digital Integration team within the Digital Research group at UKCEH, based in Edinburgh. Her work focuses on improving how stakeholders engage with environmental data and digital services, enhancing their impact, visibility, and usability, and supporting efforts to ensure these systems are sustainable, accessible, and designed with users in mind.

Her background spans research, communications and knowledge exchange across academia, policy and the third sector, with a particular emphasis on creative and participatory approaches to engagement on environmental challenges. She recently submitted her PhD at the University of Edinburgh, where she combined systems thinking, stakeholder engagement and digital methods to explore pathways towards more sustainable livestock futures. Alongside her doctoral research, she led communications and knowledge-exchange activity for a UKRI-funded programme focused on food and livestock systems transformation, and has previously contributed to applied sustainability work with Leeds City Council and Social Business Brokers, including contributing to climate-emergency training, guidance development and community-focused waste-reduction initiatives.

Other Publications

Carlile, R., Darmon, I., and Blair, K.J., 2025. The inequality/unsustainability nexus in agri-food transitions and transformations: a conceptual review. Review of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Studies. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41130-025-00246-z

Blair, K.J., Moran, D., and Alexander, P., 2024. Worldviews, values and perspectives towards the future of the livestock sector. Agriculture and Human Values, 41(1), 91–108. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-023-10469-9

Tak, M., Blair, K.J., and Marques, J.G.O., 2024. Who is responsible for fixing the food system? A framing analysis of media reactions to the UK’s National Food Strategy. British Food Journal, 126(13), 119–142. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-04-2023-0338

Moran, D., and Blair, K.J., 2021. Sustainable livestock systems: anticipating demand-side challenges. Animal, 15, 100288. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.animal.2021.100288

 

Preprints:

Blair, K.J., Moran, D., Alexander, P., and Fletcher, I., under review. (Re)framing Sustainable Livestock Futures: Academic Narratives and Transformation Pathways. Preprint available at: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.6008294

Blair, K.J., Fletcher, I., Burns, J., Alexander, P., and Moran, D., under review. UK Livestock Futures: Co-designing Shared Socioeconomic Pathways. Preprint available at: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8311257/v1

Blair, K.J., Moran, D., and Alexander, P., under review. Framing the Futures of the UK Livestock Sector. Preprint available at: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5915217