UK AI Exposure · Professional occupations
Other researchers, unspecified discipline
Other researchers, unspecified discipline perform research activities across a variety of disciplines for academic purposes or to provide the systematic investigation necessary for the development of new products and services, or to enhance the performance of existing ones.
- Employees (UK)
- 15k
- Median annual pay
- £42,463
- Exposure score ?
- 0.9/10 Minimal 8.3/10 Very high strict reading · with tools is 8.3/10 with-tools reading · strict is 0.9/10
- Wage exposure
- £57m £529m
Higher exposure than 49% of the 379 UK occupations we scored.
What this score means
Most of this role's work is still genuinely hard for AI to do. Physical presence, bodily skill, high-context judgment, direct human care - the things that don't translate to text.
If you're in this role, here's what to do now
You're not in the firing line today. But the frontier moves. Build enough AI fluency now that you can direct it for the parts of your work that could benefit. People in unexposed roles who understand AI become unusually valuable inside their organisations.
Almost every routine task in this role is within reach of today's language models. Roles at this level are getting rebuilt - often not by disappearing, but by one person using AI to do three or five people's output.
If you're in this role, here's what to do now
You don't need to be afraid. You need to be the person doing the rebuilding. The operators who learn to direct AI at scale in this kind of work become hugely valuable. The ones who wait to be told what to do get told what to do - and that thing is often 'we don't need as many of you anymore.'
Where a project with Alex usually starts for this role
This role's strict reading is low because its top tasks are judgment, not drafting. The three highest-stakes tasks below are still usually where we start — flip the toggle to 'With tools' to see what AI plus the right context can compress.
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Communicate research or project results to other professionals or the public or teach related courses, seminars, or workshops.
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Develop methods of conserving or managing soil that can be applied by farmers or forestry companies.
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Provide information or recommendations to farmers or other landowners regarding ways in which they can best use land, promote plant growth, or avoid or correct problems such as erosion.
These are the highest-importance tasks AI can already handle when paired with the right tools and context. In a typical engagement the first wins come from building workflows around these — usually the difference between an LLM that can technically do the job and one that actually does it inside your business.
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Communicate research or project results to other professionals or the public or teach related courses, seminars, or workshops.
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Develop methods of conserving or managing soil that can be applied by farmers or forestry companies.
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Provide information or recommendations to farmers or other landowners regarding ways in which they can best use land, promote plant growth, or avoid or correct problems such as erosion.
Every role has three or four wedges like these. Finding them takes an hour. Turning them into a workflow your team actually uses takes a few days. Talk to Alex about a project →
The full task breakdown
Every O*NET task for this occupation, split by what AI can already do unaided versus what still needs a human. Importance is O*NET's 1–5 rating of how central each task is to the role.
Tasks via O*NET "Soil and Plant Scientists" (19-1013.00).
What AI can already do
0 of 27 tasks · unaided
No tasks here are labelled as something an LLM can do unaided. Switch to 'With tools' above to see what changes when AI is paired with the right context.
Where humans still hold the line
27 of 27 tasks
Communicate research or project results to other professionals or the public or teach related courses, seminars, or workshops.
Develop methods of conserving or managing soil that can be applied by farmers or forestry companies.
Provide information or recommendations to farmers or other landowners regarding ways in which they can best use land, promote plant growth, or avoid or correct problems such as erosion.
Conduct experiments to develop new or improved varieties of field crops, focusing on characteristics such as yield, quality, disease resistance, nutritional value, or adaptation to specific soils or climates.
Investigate soil problems or poor water quality to determine sources and effects.
Investigate responses of soils to specific management practices to determine the use capabilities of soils and the effects of alternative practices on soil productivity.
Conduct experiments to investigate the underlying mechanisms of plant growth and response to the environment.
Identify degraded or contaminated soils and develop plans to improve their chemical, biological, or physical characteristics.
Develop new or improved methods or products for controlling or eliminating weeds, crop diseases, or insect pests.
Provide advice regarding the development of regulatory standards for land reclamation or soil conservation.
Study soil characteristics to classify soils on the basis of factors such as geographic location, landscape position, or soil properties.
Develop improved measurement techniques, soil conservation methods, soil sampling devices, or related technology.
Conduct research to determine best methods of planting, spraying, cultivating, harvesting, storing, processing, or transporting horticultural products.
Develop environmentally safe methods or products for controlling or eliminating weeds, crop diseases, or pests.
Study ways to improve agricultural sustainability, such as the use of new methods of composting.
Consult with engineers or other technical personnel working on construction projects about the effects of soil problems and possible solutions to these problems.
Perform chemical analyses of the microorganism content of soils to determine microbial reactions or chemical mineralogical relationships to plant growth.
Survey undisturbed or disturbed lands for classification, inventory, mapping, environmental impact assessments, environmental protection planning, conservation planning, or reclamation planning.
Plan or supervise waste management programs for composting or farming.
Develop ways of altering soils to suit different types of plants.
Conduct experiments investigating how soil forms, changes, or interacts with land-based ecosystems or living organisms.
Research technical requirements or environmental impacts of urban green spaces, such as green roof installations.
Conduct experiments regarding causes of bee diseases or factors affecting yields of nectar or pollen.
Identify or classify species of insects or allied forms, such as mites or spiders.
Study insect distribution or habitat and recommend methods to prevent importation or spread of injurious species.
Plan or supervise land conservation or reclamation programs for industrial development projects.
Conduct research into the use of plant species as green fuels or in the production of green fuels.
Tasks via O*NET "Soil and Plant Scientists" (19-1013.00).
What AI can already do
26 of 27 tasks · with tools
Communicate research or project results to other professionals or the public or teach related courses, seminars, or workshops.
Develop methods of conserving or managing soil that can be applied by farmers or forestry companies.
Provide information or recommendations to farmers or other landowners regarding ways in which they can best use land, promote plant growth, or avoid or correct problems such as erosion.
Conduct experiments to develop new or improved varieties of field crops, focusing on characteristics such as yield, quality, disease resistance, nutritional value, or adaptation to specific soils or climates.
Investigate soil problems or poor water quality to determine sources and effects.
Investigate responses of soils to specific management practices to determine the use capabilities of soils and the effects of alternative practices on soil productivity.
Conduct experiments to investigate the underlying mechanisms of plant growth and response to the environment.
Identify degraded or contaminated soils and develop plans to improve their chemical, biological, or physical characteristics.
Develop new or improved methods or products for controlling or eliminating weeds, crop diseases, or insect pests.
Provide advice regarding the development of regulatory standards for land reclamation or soil conservation.
Study soil characteristics to classify soils on the basis of factors such as geographic location, landscape position, or soil properties.
Develop improved measurement techniques, soil conservation methods, soil sampling devices, or related technology.
Conduct research to determine best methods of planting, spraying, cultivating, harvesting, storing, processing, or transporting horticultural products.
Develop environmentally safe methods or products for controlling or eliminating weeds, crop diseases, or pests.
Study ways to improve agricultural sustainability, such as the use of new methods of composting.
Consult with engineers or other technical personnel working on construction projects about the effects of soil problems and possible solutions to these problems.
Perform chemical analyses of the microorganism content of soils to determine microbial reactions or chemical mineralogical relationships to plant growth.
Survey undisturbed or disturbed lands for classification, inventory, mapping, environmental impact assessments, environmental protection planning, conservation planning, or reclamation planning.
Plan or supervise waste management programs for composting or farming.
Develop ways of altering soils to suit different types of plants.
Conduct experiments investigating how soil forms, changes, or interacts with land-based ecosystems or living organisms.
Research technical requirements or environmental impacts of urban green spaces, such as green roof installations.
Identify or classify species of insects or allied forms, such as mites or spiders.
Study insect distribution or habitat and recommend methods to prevent importation or spread of injurious species.
Plan or supervise land conservation or reclamation programs for industrial development projects.
Conduct research into the use of plant species as green fuels or in the production of green fuels.
Where humans still hold the line
1 of 27 tasks
Conduct experiments regarding causes of bee diseases or factors affecting yields of nectar or pollen.
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Methodology
This role's exposure score comes from Eloundou et al's 2023 GPT task labels, aggregated by O*NET importance within each O*NET-SOC code, then bridged to UK SOC 2020 via ISCO-08 (ONS Vol 2 coding index) and US SOC 2010 (BLS crosswalk). Employment and median pay come from ONS ASHE Table 14.7a, 2025 provisional. ASHE covers employees only, so self-employed workers are not counted.
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