After getting his PhD in epigenetics, exploring how environmental factors can affect our DNA and in turn our health and wellbeing, Paul met our co-founder Dr. Jens Thomas and shortly thereafter, Farm Urban was born.

Today Paul leads our business, building new stakeholder relationships, working with investors and helping us to grow our business and impact and share our story.

Jens has had an unconventional career path - an editorial traineeship at the New Scientist magazine after finishing a degree in chemistry, studies in computers, quantum chemistry, molecular graphics and supercomputing. He has travelled extensively, including long stints in Nepal and Patagonia and sailing around the world.

Jens improves the operations of the farm, looking for innovative ways to evolve how we grow using hydroponic technologies, with the aim of making the farm financially self-sufficient.

Abigail joined Farm Urban as part of her Master’s degree, evaluating the efficacy of the Future Food Challenge, our flagship secondary school programme. She has also worked as an advocate, developing recovery programmes for survivors of human trafficking and domestic abuse and wanted to return to research and focus on preventative and rehabilitative community initiatives to address societal needs.

Today, Abi has started her Ph.D and ensures that Farm Urban’s social aims are at the heart of all our activities

Alex Hannah is our Greens for Good lead at Farm Urban. His role focuses on community engagement, workshop delivery, customer relationships and business development. Before joining Farm Urban, Alex spent 21 years in the hospitality industry starting with 8 years with Living Ventures before heading up the resurgence of Alma De Cuba in 2008.

Alex moved on to open several of his own restaurants which included the Lucha Libre and Miyagi concepts. Alex is also responsible for the development of our Urban Oasis concept which we are currently working on.

Abbi joined Farm Urban as the Delivery & Engagement Coordinator for our Routes & Shoots team, delivering our programmes in schools and education centres across our communities. Abbi has since moved onto becoming our Community outreach, working on projects with Liverpool based Alder Hey Children's hospital and our 1% for the Planet and corporate partners, whilst also managing our social media.

In her spare time Abbi also teaches yoga and mindfulness and she has incorporated her love of wellness and yoga to create a mindfulness programme which she delivers as part of Farm Urban's ESG packages. 

Guy joined Farm Urban as a volunteer during Covid lockdowns after an introduction from his friend in his Modern History Master’s course, and later became a farm technician.

Today, Guy oversees the day-to-day running of the farm, splitting the week into three distinct days: one for harvesting and boxing, one for transplanting, and one for sowing. Guy ensures that these run smoothly, managing volunteers and staff, on top of necessary maintenance tasks.

During his Aerospace Engineering MEng, Francis teamed up with Farm Urban to prototype an aquaponic system, shifting his key values and merging his love of nature and engineering. Francis sees urban agriculture as a key response to global issues, helping to improve the stewardship of our planet, people’s health, and understanding of food systems by bringing them closer to people’s lives.

Francis is researching the economic and environmental sustainability of vertical farming, creating baseline metrics for measuring risk and uncertainty for investments in vertical farming.

With a background in Primary teaching and writing, Rachel creates highly effective, engaging, and impactful learning resources that can be used across Farm Urban’s outreach activities - creating compelling content for learners at all levels from primary to university, along with members of the public for Farm Urban’s community outreach.

Rachel researches pedagogical devices and educational technologies, hoping to increase the impact and effectiveness of our programmes.

Beth ensures that our day to day office operations run smoothly, managing the office and providing support to all of our team members.

Beth spent 5 Years working as a Pediatric Nurse on Intensive Care at Alder Hey Children's Hospital before starting a family and working part time at Farm Urban.

Seb started with us as a Farm Technician, working with the wider farm team developing new plant recipes and trialling new technologies. He now focuses on developing new products, offerings and strategies as part of our ESG programmes and partnerships with corporates, 1% for the Planet members, and businesses looking to increase their environmental and social impact.

Seb also focuses on business development, bringing new opportunities to the organisation either in the R&D space developing relationships with academia and industrial partners, or private businesses as part of our ESG and social value impact.

Pete has spent almost 20 years in biological clock research, firstly during his PhD at the University of Manchester studying fungal clocks before moving to Liverpool University to study plant biological clocks.

His passion for plants has led him to move from more fundamental research into more applied research, firstly setting up The Cheshire Saffron Company in 2015 to research on enhancing photosynthesis to then building a research portfolio for Reaseheath College in vertical farming and protected growing. Today Pete is the Operation and Research lead working on enhancing and streamlining sustainable indoor growing.

Neil is our Innovation Consultant, and has a particular focus on building and developing Farm Urban’s Social Value and ESG offerings, as well as general business development process and support.

A social innovator at heart, Neil has extensive experience working in innovation management and entrepreneurship, and has worked in and with organisations across the Public and Private sector in the UK, USA, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Africa, Europe and Asia.

His mission is to bring social and environmental good and positive vibes into everything he does and expresses his activism through his professional work.

After completing a Biotechnology degree at The University of Edinburgh, Josie developed a taste for plant science. She originally joined Farm Urban as a volunteer, keeping on top of plant health, farm maintenance and carrying out some of her own research on ways to improve plant growth.

Aside from working in the farm, Josie is now part of the Routes and Shoots team, engaging with educational bodies and delivering our programmes in schools across the city. She loves meeting new people and inspiring them about the wonders of vertical farming!