Professor Simon Pearson

Simon Pearson is Professor of Agri-Food Technology and Founding Director of the Lincoln Institute of Agri-Food Technology at the University of Lincoln. He specialises in interdisciplinary research that spans the agri-food system, including agri-food robotics, use of digital systems in food manufacturing, the application of AI across the food chain and data governance in complex systems. Prior to joining Lincoln in 2016, he spent 15 years in industry as a technologist managing supply chains for Marks and Spencer plc and running a commercial farming company.

He helped establish and ran the EPSRC Internet of Food Things network that examined the use of digital technology across the food system and was CoChair of the DEFRA Automation and Robotics Review for Horticulture.