SEFARI blogs are a relaxed and accessible way to share event reports, individual perspectives or your work, whether it’s just beginning, underway, or complete. They help readers outside your immediate field understand why your research matters.
Think of your blog as something a policymaker, colleague, or curious member of the public might read over a coffee. You’ve got about 30 seconds to grab their attention, so make it engaging, clear, and relevant.
This case study template accompanies our case study guidance document.
If you would like to write a case study on your work for SEFARI Gateway please get in touch with our communications and engagement officer and/or our centre manager: About Us
Peat has long been a major ingredient in UK horticulture, but with its use declining and public interest in sustainable alternatives rising, there is increasing demand for clear, trustworthy information about growing media. A Responsible Sourcing Scheme (RSS) has been developed to help consumers understand the environmental impact of compost products through an A–E rating system. To support Scottish Government decision-making on future peat policy, a short review assessed the strengths and limitations of the RSS calculator.
Environmental enrichment is about adding features to simple/unfurnished environments used to
house intensively managed farm animals. To be effective, enrichments should have positive effects
on animal welfare. This briefing provides a summary of current legal and farm assurance standards
for enrichment in the UK and an analysis of these standards in terms of delivering effective
enrichment.
Animal welfare relies on both the prevention of suffering and the facilitation of positive experiences. A growing body of academic literature considers the concept of ‘animal agency’ to be a key organising principle of positive welfare - over and above having good things, positive welfare is about doing them.
We are delighted to share with you the latest copy of the ELPEG Bulletin. The bulletins are produced every six months and summarise the biodiversity research that is happening within the Strategic Research Programme. The bulletins aim to provide a policy relevant summary of the research.
The October 2025 bulletin can be accessed here.
Pictures and biographies of food security conference speakers.
This booklet highlights key research outputs from Scottish Government funded strategic research programme 2022-27 on sustainable food systems and supply. This includes research on sustainable food production from domestic agriculture through to sustainable and secure supplies of food, as well as supporting a safe and healthy diet. It provides elements of research relevant right through from farm to fork to contribute to the economy, people’s livelihoods and the health of the nation.
This booklet highlights key research outputs from Scottish Government funded strategic research programme 2022-27 on sustainable food systems and supply. This includes research on sustainable food production from domestic agriculture through to sustainable and secure supplies of food, as well as supporting a safe and healthy diet. It provides elements of research relevant right through from farm to fork to contribute to the economy, people’s livelihoods and the health of the nation.
SEFARI Gateway (Scotland’s Centre of Expertise for Knowledge Exchange and Innovation) drives knowledge exchange and innovation at the science–policy interface, ensuring research addresses Scotland’s urgent climate, biodiversity, and food security challenges. Through specialist advisory groups, fellowships, and cross-sector partnerships, Gateway links research outputs to policy and practice, maximising impact across government priorities.
This study investigated whether peatland restoration increases liver fluke (Fasciola hepatica) risk to livestock. Conducted in Shetland with NatureScot and local crofters, the research combined diagnostic testing (faecal egg counts), habitat surveys, and molecular testing of mud snails (Galba truncatula). Restored peatlands were found to be acidic, waterlogged, and largely mud-free, making them unsuitable for the snail host. Consequently, infection risk on restored sites was low, with fluke presence confined to marginal grazing areas such as paths and drains.
We show how much Scotland’s climate has already changed and how it may potentially change in the future, including extremes what this means for Scotland’s Natural Capital. Outputs achieved substantial impact through raising awareness amongst policy teams, agencies and businesses. It achieved capacity building within policy teams and politicians and associated conceptual change though recognition of urgency for action due to improved understanding of the scale of change and spatial and temporal variability of climate impacts and consequences.
SPICE (Social Prescribing for Improving Communities’ Eating Practices) explores the feasibility of embedding a brief, MAP-informed (Motivation–Action–Prompts model) healthy eating intervention within Aberdeen’s social prescribing service. Co-designed with Link Practitioners and informed by GP questionnaires, as well as interviews with community food providers and their service users, the intervention addresses food insecurity and poor diet through person-centred, non-judgmental conversations.
Living Labs (LL) seek to enable people living in remote, rural and island communities to tackle place-based challenges. Through an inherently action-based and participative approach, the research supports dialogue between different layers of governance. LLs respond to the needs of communities and aim to understand the effectiveness of interventions implemented in them, revealing new insights into well-known problems and including lesser heard voices.
The assessment of carbon stores, flood mitigation potential and bird, bat and small mammal occurrence within characteristic upland farmland, semi-natural and natural habitats is allowing the multiple environmental benefits arising from different habitats on upland farms to be better understood. A particular focus has been put on the innovative use of acoustic sensors and camera-traps to assess biodiversity and digital sensors to monitor water levels.
