Blog

Scotland's 2022 Census shows that Scotland’s population is ageing. With people aged 65 and over outnumbering people aged 15 and under by more than quarter of a million. Numerous physiological changes occur with increasing age which can result in chronic medical conditions and illnesses.

As a result of work commissioned by the Scottish Government funded Strategic Research Programme (SRP) looking at resilient food supply chains, a group of farmers teamed up with Professor Mike Coffey at Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC). Their project will demonstrate the application of large-scale recording and genotyping of dairy cattle to accelerate genetic improvement for traits that lead to better resilience of their farming systems within a net zero context of the future.

The production of soft fruits in Scotland, the main fruit category produced in the country, has a marked seasonality. This has a mirroring effect on nutrition and the quality of diet consumers are exposed to every year. However, very little is known about how seasonal fluctuations in Scottish soft fruit supply affect the quantity of soft fruit bought and nutrient intake among different income groups, and this is the focus of a SEFARI study.

Youth out-migration in Scotland’s rural communities remains a significant concern, and increasing levels of youth retention, in-migration, and return are seen as key to longer-term population sustainability. While youth out-migration in rural places is often linked to limited employment and housing opportunities and constraints of services in rural places, evidence also shows that experiences of belonging, and family connections are important in shaping young people's migration patterns.

Over 600 school children aged 11 to 18 years old from 9 council areas in Scotland attended the ‘Your Plant-Your Future’ event at Our Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh on 5th March 2024. The aim of the event was to engage young people, raise awareness of the many environmental issues facing Scotland today, and inspire them to consider a future in a STEM related career- in an attempt to address the skills gap that currently exists. Pupils explored the amazing opportunities that can be unlocked through STEM pathways at school and beyond.

Dr Zisis Gagkas believes that “We shouldn’t be doing research just for research’s sake, it should be about research making an impact and helping to meet society’s needs”. Therefore, Zisis decided to apply for a SEFARI Gateway Fellowship where he could work with policy colleagues to help with better land-use decision making. In this blog, hear directly from Zisis about his Fellowship. If you’d like to follow a path that helps increase the policy relevance of your research, then read on to discover whether the scheme could be the right opportunity for you too.

Promoting more healthful food practices is a central goal for policy makers and health professionals in many high-income countries, but it isn’t easy to achieve.

Here at SEFARI, we strive to make the world more sustainable, greener, and equal and we’ve got an amazing team of people who make this possible. As its International Women’s Day, we’ve decided to highlight some of the work done by our female researchers and/or our research that is addressing key issues affecting women. From supporting rural women in the Arctic in making low carbon transitions, to closing the gender pay gaps, to sector-leading research - we cover it all in this blog post.

Over the centuries women have led the way in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) making life changing discoveries, especially here in Scotland. This International Women’s Day we’re shining a light on some of the inspiring women we have working with us at Gateway. In this blog, we’ll learn more about Professor Lorna Dawson, Michelle McWilliams, Dr. Michelle Wilson-Chalmers, Dr. Chrizelle Krynauw and Tiyan Osahon who are striving to make a difference and are eager to inspire the next generation.

There is a well-known saying: "We are what we eat". But do we really know what we are eating? This is a difficult question to answer as in our interconnected and rapidly globalising world, getting food from farm to fork has become a complex and tangled web. In this blog, Dr Renata Garbellini Duft (from the Rowett Institute) discusses how science is helping to identify the provenance of our food and, in particular, how proteomics can be used in meat authentication.