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William Thompson

Affiliation / Function

Activity areas

  • Agroecology
  • Climate resilience
  • Biodiversity 
  • Vegetable production

Projects

Training / professional career

  • Since 2026 Senior Scientist at FiBL Switzerland
  • 2021 - 2026 Senior Research Fellow, Nature-based Solutions Initiative, University of Oxford, UK
  • 2017 - 2021 PhD, Sustainable Agroecosystems Lab, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
  • 2015 - 2017 Project coordinator, World Food Programme (WFP), United Nations, Tanzania
  • 2014 - 2015 MSc Environmental Technology, Imperial College London, UK
  • 2012 - 2014 Food technical and sustainability teams, Sainsbury's Supermarkets, UK
  • 2009 - 2012 BSc Biology, University of Bristol, UK

Teaching

  • Lectures, seminars and thesis supervision on agricultural ecology, food systems and resilience at BSc, MSc, PhD levels

Publications

Publications in the Organic Eprints archive

Publications that are not in the Organic Eprints archive

  • Thompson W, Blaser W, Joerin J, Kruetli P, Dawoe E, Kopainsky B, Chavez E, Garrett R and Six J. (2022) Can sustainability certification deliver climate resilience for smallholder farmers? The case of Ghanaian cocoa. Journal of Land Use Science (https://doi.org/10.1080/1747423X.2022.2097455)
  • Thompson W, Kruetli K, Aguiar-Rodriguez A, Kopianksy B, Bonialla-Duarte S, Chavez E, Joerin J and Six J. (2023) Smallholder Resilience to Extreme Weather Events in Global Food Value Chains. Climatic Change (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-023-03586-1) 
  • Varma V, Thompson W, Six J, Kruetli P, Bonilla-Duarte S and Bebber D. (2020) Mapping the impacts of hurricanes Maria and Irma on banana production area in the Dominican Republic. (Pre-print - https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.09.20.304899)
  • Thompson W. (2021) Enhancing smallholder climate resilience in banana and cocoa global food value chains. ETH Zurich. (https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000504801) 
  • Kalischek, N., Lang, N., Renier, C., Daudt, R.C., Addoah, T., Thompson, W., Blaser-Hart, W.J., Garrett, R., Schindler, K. and Wegner, J.D., 2023. Cocoa plantations are associated with deforestation in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana. Nature Food 4, 384–393. (https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00751-8) 
  • Benabderrazik, K., Kopainsky, B., Monastyrnaya, E., Thompson, W., Tazi, L., Joerin, J. and Six, J., 2022. Climate resilience and the human-water dynamics. The case of tomato production in Morocco. Science of the Total Environment, 849, p.157597. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157597) 
  • Federico Cammelli, Thomas Addoah, Norina Anna Furrer, Prisca Kouakou, Joss Lyons-White, Cecile Renier, William Thompson, Rachael Garrett. Agroforestry and forest conservation in cocoa supply chain initiatives in West Africa: from promise to performance.2025. Environmental Research: Food Systems DOI 10.1088/2976 601X/adf117 
  • Thomas Addoah, Joss Lyons-White, Federico Cammelli, Keessy Maria-Prisca Kouakou, Sophia Carodenuto, William Thompson, Cecile Renier, Rachael Garrett. Is the implementation of cocoa companies' forest policies on track to effectively and equitably address deforestation in West Africa? 2025. Sustainable Development https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.3380
  • Becker, Alexander, Jan D. Wegner, Evans Dawoe, Konrad Schindler, William J. Thompson, Christian Bunn, Rachael D. Garrett, Fabio Castro-Llanos, Simon P. Hart, and Wilma J. Blaser-Hart. "The unrealized potential of agroforestry for an emissions-intensive agricultural commodity." Nature Sustainability (2025): 1-10. doi.org/10.1038/s41893-025-01608-7