In 1972, Long received the University of Prize from the University of Reading. From 1972 to 1975, he served as a University Scholar at the University of Leeds. He is a recipient of the Andrew Mellon Foundation personal award (1998-2003) and the McNair Movement Award (2005). He has been recognized by Clarivate Analytics (formerly Thomson Reuters) as a highly cited researcher in the field of plant and animal science every year since 2005. In 2007, the American Association for the Advancement of Science elected Long as a fellow. He was also chosen to be the G.E. Blackman Lecturer at the University of Oxford and the Porter Alliance Lecturer at Imperial College London in 2007. In 2008, he was named the Heilborn Lecturer at Northwestern University; the CMI Lecturer at Princeton University; the Industry Summer School Lecturer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology; the 9th Annual Woolhouse Lecturer for the Society for Experimental Biology; and Holden Botany Lecturer at Sutton Bonington Campus in 2008. In 2009, he was named a Fellow of the American Society of Plant Biologists. In 2010, he served as the BEGC Lecturer at Harvard University. In 2012, he served as an Invited Expert on Food Security for the President's Council of Advisors on Science Technology (PCAST). In 2012, he was also honored with the Charles F. Kettering Award for Excellence in Photosynthesis Research from the American Society of Plant Biologists and the Marsh Award for Climate Change Research from the British Ecological Society. Also in 2012, he became an Elected Fellow of Rothamsted Research, appointed to advise the director of the world's oldest agricultural experimental research station. In 2013, he served as the CeBiTec Annual Distinguished Lecturer at the Centrum für Biotechnologie and the 4th Annual Riley Memorial Lecturer for the World Food Prize and American Association for the Advancement of Science. He also received the Innovation Award from the International Society for Photosynthesis Research. In 2013, Long was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS), the oldest continually operating society that honors leading scientists and engineers. In 2016, he became an Elected Fellow of Lincoln College at the University of Oxford. Long has also been named as one of “The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds" by Thomson Reuters.
