Dr Graham McAuliffe
BA (Hons) MSc PhD PgCert FHEAReader in Environmental Assessments of Food Systems
Dr Graham McAuliffe specialises in quantitative sustainability assessments of food systems, with a particular focus on Life Cycle Assessment. His work as Reader in Environmental Assessments of Food Systems advances the methodological foundations needed to support sustainable agri-food production. A background spanning geography, environmental science, and veterinary science informs a multidisciplinary approach to understanding how environmental footprints relate to the nutritional value of foods.
Current research centres on improving the quality and interpretability of environmental models through the use of high-resolution data from national research infrastructures. This includes work on greenhouse gas emissions and other key pollutants, together with the uncertainties that shape their behaviour in real-world systems. A significant strand of his research has contributed to the evolution of nutritional Life Cycle Assessment, an emerging field that integrates nutritional quality into environmental modelling. This involves the development of enviro-nutritional indices, refinement of functional units, and the use of primary data to strengthen the reliability of sustainability assessments. The research portfolio includes more than thirty five open access peer reviewed papers, alongside national and international grants and consultancy activity. Additional work spans hotspot identification in food systems, spatial analysis using GIS, and the integration of environmental, economic, and social indicators into comprehensive sustainability frameworks. Expertise in this area has led to involvement in a range of influential projects with organisations working to improve the transparency and robustness of sustainability methods for both conventional and novel food systems.
Teaching and supervision focus on building quantitative and digital capability, whilst fostering a holistic understanding of the environmental and nutritional complexities of modern food systems. Graduates are supported in developing the skills needed to contribute meaningfully to the future of sustainable food production in the UK and internationally.
Professional Memberships
Academic Department: Harper Food Innovation
Research: Global Institute for Agri-Tech Economics (GIATE)
Research: Harper Food Innovation
Office: Regional Food Academy
Research profile:
Publications
Other publications
- McAuliffe, G.A., Akinsola, O.M., Siqueiros, E., Lee, M.R.F.,Vriesekoop, F., & Arnold, L. (2026) Enviro-nutritional pedagogy for sustainability assessment in higher education: integrating Life Cycle Assessment and nutritional science OSF EdArXiv (Preprint whilst manuscript is undergoing peer review. )
- Damerau, K., Ortzenzi, F., McAuliffe, G.A., Gonzalez Fischer, C., Mialyk, O., Vasanthakaalam, H., Wangila, F., Manzano, P., Colston, J., & Beal, T. (2026) Advancing Integrated Environmental and Nutritional Life Cycle Assessments for Local Food Systems Preprints (Shared as a preprint whilst manuscript undergoes peer review.)
- McAuliffe, G.A., Ortenzi, F., van der Pols, J.C., Nemecek, T., Colston, J., & Beal, T. (2026) Nutritional Life Cycle Assessment for healthy and sustainable food systems: evidence and policy insights from Africa and Asia Frontiers in Nutrition 13
- Asma Jebari, Taro Takahashi, Michael R. F. Lee, Adrian L. Collins, Kevin Coleman, Alison Carswell, Carmen Segura, Laura Cardenas & Graham A. McAuliffe (2025) Carbon footprints of greenhouse gas mitigation measures for a grass-based beef cattle finishing system in the UK The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 30
- Graham McAuliffe, Flaminia Ortenzi, Sarah McLaren, Thomas Ponsioen,& Ty Beal (2025) Underlying Nutritional Life Cycle Assessment (nLCA) inventory data applicable to an Indonesian case study of the Nutritional Value Score (NVS) Mendeley Data V1
- Alison M. Carswell, Simon Willcock, Martin S. A. Blackwell, Hari Ram Upadhayay, Paul Harris, Graham A. McAuliffe, Andrew L. Neal, M. Jordana Rivero, Laura M. Cardenas, Stephan M. Haefele, Andrew P. Whitmore, John A. Dearing, Fusuo Zhang, Mark Farrell, Marijn Bauters, Pascal Boeckx, Yuri Jacques A. B. da Silva, Kwame Agyei Frimpong & Adrian L. Collins (2025) Agricultural practices can threaten soil resilience through changing feedback loops npj Sustainable Agriculture 3
- P. Kao; S.P. McGrath; H.L. Buss; T. Darch; H.E. Warren; G.A. McAuliffe; L. Cardenas; M. Blackwell; M.R.F. Lee (2024) The role of ruminant urine and faeces in the recycling of nutrients by forages Scientific Reports 14
- A. Jebari, Z. Oyetunde-Usman, G.A. McAuliffe, C. Chivers, A.L. Collins (2024) Willingness to adopt green house gas mitigation measures: Agricultural land managers in the United Kingdom PloS One 19
- A. Jebari, F. Pereyra-Goday, A. Kumar, A.L. Collins, M.J. Rivero, G.A. McAuliffe (2024) Feasibility of mitigation measures for agricultural greenhouse gas emissions in the UK: A systematic review Agronomy for Sustainable Development 44
- F. Ortenzi, G.A. McAuliffe, F. Leroy, S. Nordhagen, S. van Vliet, A. del Prado, T. Beal (2024) Can we estimate the impact of small targeted dietary changes on human health and environmental sustainability? Environmental Impact Assessment Review 102
- A. Jebari, Z. Oyetunde-Usman, G.A. Mcauliffe, C. Chivers, A.L. Collins (2024) Examining Agricultural Land Manager Willingness to Adopt Climate Change Mitigation in the UK Rothamsted Research Data Repository
- S. Buckingham, C.F.E. Topp, P. Smith, V. Eory, D. Chadwick, C. Baxter, J.M. Cloy, S. Connolly, E. Cooledge, N.J. Cowan, J. Drewer, C. Duffy, N.J. Fox, A. Jebari, B. Jenkins, D.J. Krol, K. Marsden, G.A. McAuliffe, S.J. Morrison, V. O'Flaherty, R. Ramsey, K.G. Richards, R. Roehe, J. Smith, K. Smith, T. Takahashi, R.E. Thorman, J. Williams, J. Wiltshire, R.M. Rees (2024) Greenhouse gas and ammonia emission mitigation priorities for UK policy targets Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering 10
- Fabiana Pereyra-Goday, Asma Jebari, Taro Takahashi, Pablo Rovira, Walter Ayala, Michael R. F. Lee, M. Jordana Rivero & Graham A. McAuliffe (2024) Carbon footprint of mixed farming crop-livestock rotational-based grazing beef systems using long term experimental data Agronomy for Sustainable Development 44
- Graham A. McAuliffe, Ty Beal, Michael R. F. Lee, and Jolieke C. van der Pols (2024) Editorial: Pushing the Frontiers of nutritional Life Cycle Assessment (nLCA) to identify globally equitable and sustainable agri-food systems Frontiers of Sustainable Food Systems 8:1471102
- G. A. McAuliffe; T. Takahashi; T. Beal; T. Huppertz; F. Leroy; J. Buttriss; A. L. Collins; A. Drewnowski; S. J. McLaren; F. Ortenzi et al. (2023) Protein quality as a complementary functional unit in life cycle assessment (LCA) International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 28
- Segura, C.; Horrocks, C.; Lopez-Aizpun, C.; Blackwell, M.; Darch, T.; Hood, J.; Le Cocq, K.; McAuliffe, G.A.; Lee, M.R.F.; Cardenas, L. (2023) Response of soil health indicators to dung, urine and mineral fertilizer application in temperate pastures Journal of Environmental Management 330
- Darch, T.; McAuliffe, G.A.; Le Cocq, K.; Horrocks, C.; et al. (2023) Effect of pasture composition in cattle grazed systems on soil properties and nutrient cycling: impact on herbage, soil and cattle excreta Rothamsted Research Data Repository
- G. A. McAuliffe; T. Takahashi; M. R. F. Lee; A. Jebari; L. Cardenas; A. Kumar; F. Pereyra?Goday; H. Scalabrino; A. L. Collins (2023) A commentary on key methodological developments related to nutritional life cycle assessment (nLCA) generated throughout a 6?year strategic scientific programme Food and Energy Security 12
- G.A. McAuliffe; J. Lynch; M. Cain; S. Buckingham; R.M. Rees; A.L. Collins; M. Allen; R. Pierrehumbert; M.R.F. Lee; T. Takahashi (2023) Are single global warming potential impact assessments adequate for carbon footprints of agri-food systems? Environmental Research Letters 18
- Katz-Rosene, R.; Ortenzi, F.; McAuliffe, G.A.; Beal, T. (2023) Levelling foods for priority micronutrient value can provide more meaningful environmental footprint comparisons Nature Communications: Earth & Environment 4
- Ndung'u, P. W.; Taro Takahashi; Du Toit, C. J. L.; Robertson-Dean, M.; Butterbach-Bahl, K.; McAuliffe, G.A.; Merbold, L.; Goopy, J. P. (2022) Farm-level emission intensities of smallholder cattle (Bos indicus; B. indicus - B. taurus crosses) production systems in highlands and semi-arid regions Animal 16
- Leroy, F.; Beal, T.; Gregorini, P.; McAuliffe, G.A.; Van Vliet, S. (2022) Nutritionism in a food policy context: the case of animal protein Animal Production Science 62
- McAuliffe, G.A.; Zhang, Y.; Collins, A. (2022) Assessing catchment scale water quality of agri-food systems and the scope for reducing unintended consequences using spatial life cycle assessment (LCA) Journal of Environmental Management 318
- Angelidis, A. E.; McAuliffe, G.A.; Taro Takahashi, T.; et al. (2022) The impact of using novel equations to predict nitrogen excretion and associated emissions from pasture-based beef production systems Sustainability 14
- McAuliffe, G.A.; Zhang, Y.; Collins, A. (2022) Data, and sample sources thereof, on water quality life cycle impact assessments pertaining to catchment scale acidification and eutrophication potentials and the benefits of on-farm mitigation strategies Data in Brief 44
- Cooke, A.S.; Le-Grice, P.; McAuliffe, G.A.; Lee, M. R. F.; Rivero, M.J. (2022) Rethinking efficiency: Growth curves as a proxy for inputs and impacts in finishing beef systems Journal of Environmental Management 324
- Lee, M. R. F.; McAuliffe, G.A.; Tweed, J. K. S.; Griffith, B. A., et al. (2021) Nutritional value of suckler beef from temperate pasture systems Animal 15
- Lee, M. R. F.; Dominguez, J. P.; McAuliffe, G.A.; Tichit, M.; Accatino, F.; Takahashi, T. (2021) Nutrient provision capacity of alternative livestock farming systems per area of arable farmland required Scientific Reports 11
- McLaren, S., Berardy, A., Henderson, A., Holden, N., Huppertz, T., Jolliet, O., Renouf, M., Rugani, B., Saarinen, M., Van der Pols, J., Vazquez-Rowe, I., Anton Vallejo, A., Bianchi, M., Chaudhary, A., Chen, C., Cooreman-Algoed, M., Dong, H., Grant, T., Green, A., Hallström, E., Minh Hoang, H., Leip, A., Lynch, J., McAuliffe, G., Ridoutt, B., Saget, S., Scherer, L., Tuomisto, H., Tyedmers, P. and Van Zanten, H. (2021) Integration of environment and nutrition in life cycle assessment of food Items: opportunities and challenges UN FAO Division
- G.A. McAuliffe; M. López-Aizpún; M.S.A. Blackwell; A. Castellano-Hinojosa; T. Darch; J. Evans; C. Horrocks; K. Le Cocq; T. Takahashi et al. , P. Harris a , M.R.F Lee a c , L. Cardenas (2020) Elucidating three-way interactions between soil, pasture and animals that regulate nitrous oxide emissions from temperate grazing systems Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 300
- McAuliffe, G.A.; Buckingham, S.; et al. (2020) Net Zero Carbon and UK Livestock Centre for Innovation Excellence in Livestock (CIEL)
- Takahashi, T; McAuliffe, G.A.; Lee, M. R. F. (2019) Assessing the environmental impact of ruminant production systems (This book chapter is open access; if you add to cart on the DOI webpage (click the title), upon check-out you will not be charged and receive the PDF free of charge. )
- McAuliffe, G.A.; Taro Takahashi; Lee, M. R. F. (2019) Applications of nutritional functional units in commodity-level life cycle assessment (LCA) of agri-food systems International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 25
- McAuliffe, G.A.; Taro Takahashi; Orr, R. J.; Paul Harris; Lee, M. R. F. (2018) Distributions of emissions intensity for individual beef cattle reared on pasture-based production systems Journal of Cleaner Production 171
- McAuliffe, G.A.; Taro Takahashi; Orr, R. J.; Paul Harris; Lee, M. R. F. (2018) Data to calculate emissions intensity for individual beef cattle reared on pasture-based production systems Data in Brief 17
- Takahashi, T.; Harris, P.; Blackwell, M.; Cardenas, L.; Collins, A.; Dungait, J. A. J.; Hawkins, J.; Misselbrook, T.; McAuliffe, G.A.; McFadzean, J. N. et al. (2018) Roles of instrumented farm-scale trials in trade-off assessments of pasture-based ruminant production systems Animal 12
- McAuliffe, G.A.; Taro Takahashi; Lee, M. R. F. (2018) Framework for life cycle assessment of livestock production systems to account for the nutritional quality of final products Food and Energy Security 7
- McAuliffe, G.A.; Taro Takahashi; Mogensen, L.; Hermansen, J. E.; Sage, C. L.; Chapman, D. V.; Lee, M. R. F. (2017) Environmental trade-offs of pig production systems under varied operational efficiencies Journal of Cleaner Production 165
- McAuliffe, G.A.; Chapman, D.V.; Sage, C.L. (2016) A thematic review of life cycle assessment (LCA) applied to pig production Environmental Impact Assessment Review 56
Additional Information
Guest Editor, Frontiers in Nutrition. "." (2025-2026).
Guest Editor, Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. "" (2023-2025).