Blog

This week is Climate Week, which seeks to raise awareness of the issues and highlight how Scotland is a world leader in trying to tackle climate change. Here at SEFARI, the topic of climate change is very important to us and we deliver a wide research programme on the measurement, modelling and mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has become a major public health and food safety concern across the world, with resistance often being considered as one of the biggest challenges facing us. The sometimes mis-guided overuse of antimicrobial medicines in both human health and agricultural production systems has led to a rise in antibiotic resistant infections and the use of these medicines is therefore attracting increasing regulatory scrutiny.      

Do you ‘eat to live’ or ‘live to eat’? Our individual relationship with food is complex, often changed by influences such as cost, availability or peer pressure. Our appetite, or the desire for food, is a major stimulus for eating but even this isn’t fixed and changes as we age.

We are pleased that Dr Katy Hayden, Plant Health Officer, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE), can tell us more about a new interactive public exhibit on plant and animal biosecurity at the RBGE. Katy led a project team who were recently awarded SEFARI Gateway Responsive Opportunity Funds (ROF) to create this display. ​

We are delighted that Max Coleman, Science Communicator, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE), can tell us more about our much loved tatties. Max led a project team who were recently awarded SEFARI Gateway Responsive Opportunity Funds (ROF) to create new displays about protecting potatoes, which are now open to the public at RBGE.

We are delighted that Megan Welford, Farming and Land Use Communications Manager, Rural Innovation Support Service (RISS), can tell us about this new service. RISS is getting the right people together to make a difference to rural businesses across Scotland and they’d like even more researchers to help by sharing their expertise.

Working in research we regularly need to focus on the detail, but it is still important to take a step back and look at the bigger picture - so for this year’s Royal Highland Show we decided to use technology to help.

We are pleased that Professor Ian Toth, Head of the Plant Health Centre, is able to tell us more about this new virtual centre and why working together is crucial for enhancing Scotland's resilience in the face of threats to arable crops, trees, horticulture, and wild plants.

We are pleased that Annemarie Gibson of Circamedia, an Edinburgh-based film and multimedia production company, has provided us with some insights into what excited her whilst learning about SEFARI research and ultimately telling our story on film.