Permaculture research

There are many ways to get involved with permaculture research. On this page, you can find the 2014-2018 research strategy from the Permaculture Association and a snapshot of progress up to 2013 in setting up structures so lots of people can participate in trialling techniques for a sustainable future. Also an analysis of results from the first international permaculture research survey, which went out to academics, researchers and practitioners all over the world.

The Permaculture Association UK Research Strategy 2014 – 2018

Goals of the Association’s Research
The Objectives of our research
All of the Association’s research work shares two objectives:
1) to improve permaculture practice
2) to create a robust evidence base for permaculture.
We recognise that we cannot achieve these objectives on our own, and we need to work with a
wide range of partners in the UK and around the world to achieve them. Our particular
contribution to these objectives will be to enhance collaborative research work and knowledge
sharing amongst permaculture practitioners and researchers.

Download the full 15 page PDF

The International Permaculture Conference 2015

IPCUK presentation docs here:

https://ipcuk.events/conference/presentation-documents
including Chris's PFAF talk.

And videos via here:
https://www.ipcuk.events/article/conference-audio

The Permaculture Research Handbook Version 1.5

To download a PDF of the Permaculture Research Handbook please click the link below:

http://pfaf.org/user/research_handbook_version_1.5.pdf

Soil Testing

Permaculture Research Soil Advice Booklet v.2

Permaculture Research Soil Record Sheet v.2

Permaculture Research Soil Test v.2

Poster and handout

'A social learning organisation evolves a research capability in order to study itself'

by Ed Sears, Chris Warburton Brown, Tomas Remiarz and Rafter Sass Ferguson (2013).

A summary of our progress over the last three years (2010-2013) in evolving a research capability and exploring the extent of and evidence for permaculture, can be seen here, in an A1 size poster and accompanying handout presented at the Radical Emission Reduction conference (London, December 2013), which was organised by the Tyndall Centre For Climate Change Research.

International Permaculture Research Project

Analysis of the First International Permaculture Research Survey: Who’s doing what?

Report 1 Draft for EUPC By Anna Schmidt

The International Permaculture Research Project has the aim to connect permaculture researchers from the academic and practical sphere. It so far consists of a series of surveys, the analysis of the first one being subject of this report. The overall goal is to support research collaboration in becoming more effective and vibrant, thereby shifting Permaculture toward broader acceptance in the public and academic sphere. Full report here

Now available: PLANTS FOR YOUR FOOD FOREST: 500 Plants for Temperate Food Forests and Permaculture Gardens.

An important new book from PFAF. It focuses on the attributes of plants suitable for food forests, what each can contribute to a food forest ecosystem, including carbon sequestration, and the kinds of foods they yield. The book suggests that community and small-scale food forests can provide a real alternative to intensive industrialised agriculture, and help to combat the many inter-related environmental crises that threaten the very future of life on Earth.