Centres of Expertise: Delivering Evidence Directly to Policy

The CoEs, funded by the Scottish Government, work directly at the interface between policy and research, providing responsive outputs and outcomes in areas of high policy importance: climate change, animal disease outbreaks, plant health, water and knowledge exchange and impact. The Centres draw upon the wide range of up-to-date research expertise within the Scottish Environment, Food and Agriculture Research Institutes (SEFARI), universities, colleges, government agencies and research organisations across Scotland. 

COP26 and Reducing Methane Emissions: Breeding, Feeding and Animal Health

The GMP commits one hundred countries to reduce their methane emissions by at least 30% (based on 2020 levels) by 2030. Although carbon dioxide (CO2) tends to get the headlines, methane is more potent (1 kg methane is equal to 27 kg of CO2 in terms of the warming it causes) and shorter-lived greenhouse gas (half-life of 12 years rather than centuries). The majority of global methane emissions stem from human activities: fossil fuels (35%), landfills and waste (20%), and agriculture (40%).

A Virtual Tour around Scotland’s Innovative Climate Research

Designed by an interdisciplinary team of scientific experts, and funded by SEFARI Gateway’s Responsive Opportunity Fund, our Google earth tours feature climate research from across SEFARI’s consortium of globally renowned institutes, namely Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland (BioSS), the James Hutton Institute, Moredun Research Institute, the Rowett Institute, Royal Botanic Garden E

Environmental Science Education Resources for Secondary Schools – freely accessible

After an introduction by Annie McRobbie (SSERC) the event began with Lee Innes (Moredun Research Institute) outlining resources covering a range of different topics relating to infectious diseases, immunology, diagnostics, vaccination, parasitology, biodiversity, climate change, food security and food safety. Moredun have developed several different educational resources and activities for secondary (and primary) school children working in collaboration with teachers and colleagues at SSERC.

Mountain heights, hidden depths – biodiversity and carbon in Scotland’s alpine soils

The alpine zone supports some of Scotland’s most natural habitats. Complex topography interacts with snow cover and climate to create gradients in water availability and temperature, resulting in a mosaic of plant communities variously dominated by dwarf-shrubs, grasses, or mosses.

Potato tuber development and quality: Why do some potato varieties sprout more than others?

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is one of the world's most economically important food crops and holds major significance for future food security. Global potato production has increased steadily from 267 million tonnes in 1990 to 370 in 2019. Despite the importance of potato as a global crop there are still many gaps in knowledge concerning the complex processes involved in potato development from initial growth in the field to long term potato storage.

High and dry - Drought resilience in alpine vegetation and soils

The alpine zone supports some of our most natural habitats and provides ecosystem services including carbon storage, nutrient cycling and water quality.

Climate change is reducing snow cover duration and is predicted to lead to prolonged droughts in summer. Some alpine habitats are adapted to experiencing frequent drought periods while others typically have wet soils year-round. It is likely that these habitats will respond differently to scenarios of increasing drought and their differing responses will impact on the ecosystem services that we derive from them.

Dr Maria Costa

Maria works as a veterinary epidemiologist (species-expert for pigs) at Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) since 2020. Her main interests are pig health and welfare, with a focus on its interconnections with veterinary public health. Maria’s main interests are animal health and welfare, with a particular focus on its interconnections with veterinary public health. She combines data analysis and visualization with her veterinary expertise to generate and interpret useful information for farmers, stakeholders and national authorities.

Maria Costa

Scotland’s Rural College
Peter Wilson Building, The King's Buildings
West Mains Road
Edinburgh
EH9 3JG

Major weight loss in pregnant cows harms the development of their calves

Body condition scoring is a rapid way to assess fat coverage of livestock. In cattle it is scored on a 1 (lean) to 5 (obese) scale. Scottish beef cows typically gain body condition when grazing and lose some of this condition during the winter before calving in the spring. 

Previous Scottish Government funded work suggested that only a minority (~4%) of farmers used the recommended condition scoring approach and that there was wide variation in body condition of pregnant cows.