Lydia Smith has over 35 years applied farmer-facing work, especially in novel/underutilised crops and their impact on soil health and microbial interactions. Lydia joined NIAB in 1997 and initially managed the expansion of research across NIAB groups. She established and ran the Novel and Non-Food Crops area, which remains an important part of NIAB’s work. With a BSc. in Botany from the University of Sheffield, an MSc, from Reading University and a PhD from the University of East London. She spent postdoctoral periods at East London university, and lecturing in soil/environmental science at the Universities of Luton and in reclamation science on M.Sc. courses at the University of East London. She leads several soil, microbial and sustainable farming projects at NIAB; notably the Centre for High Carbon Capture Cropping – CHCx3