SEFARI Gateway is delighted to offer a Fellowship in collaboration with Highland and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and Orkney Islands Council (OIC) to investigate business models for Controlled Environmental Agriculture (CEA) in rural and island communities (in the Highlands and Islands).

Background

CEA is an umbrella term which encompasses a range of technologies and growing environments. This includes protected growing under structures such as polytunnels and glasshouses, and often includes smart technologies for monitoring and remote management of glasshouses right through to vertical farm systems.

Local growing, including CEA, is often seen as a possible solution for threats to food security in rural and island communities that are in vulnerable positions due to distance to markets: 22% of the Highlands and Islands’ population live on an island and the Highlands and Islands include over 90 inhabited islands. For Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles, each island group has between 22,500 and 26,600 inhabitants. However, individually, almost 50 islands have a population of less than 100. Research shows that 94% of residents island communities are proud to live in their local area. Nevertheless, many challenges are felt more acutely on islands and remote mainland: transport, costs of living and doing business, housing, digital connectivity and labour market constraints.

To support economic and community development in those areas, HIE has maintained a focus on the unique advantages arising from the natural and built assets which have created growth and sustained communities e.g. island and coastal areas are pivotal in developing Scotland’s Blue economy.

HIE’s vision is for the Highlands and Islands to be a leading net zero region with a dynamic wellbeing economy, which benefits its growing population and makes a valued contribution to Scotland. As part of these goals, this fellowship will explore the feasibility of commercially successful and sustainable CEA operations within the context of local food and food security.

The Fellowship

The Fellowship will examine and provide a report on viable business models for CEA in rural and island communities (in the Highlands and Islands).

Some key actions relevant to this Fellowship are outlined in HIE’s strategy 2023-2028. This includes the development of an entrepreneurial culture, supported with practical tools for entrepreneurs, techniques, training and mentoring to develop confidence, innovation and capability. Especially  young entrepreneurs, female entrepreneurs and those in more rural and island locations will be supported. The strategy also seeks to support community wealth building/benefit from net zero. There is a desire to develop awareness of nature-based and circular opportunities for communities and develop and deliver investment strategies e.g. for the Carbon Neutral Islands (CNI) programme and to expedite opportunities for island and rural communities to benefit from a just transition to net zero. 

Objectives

• Undertake an update on CEA developments and advances;

• To illustrate successful CEA operations at different scales using different models and in different locations of the Highlands and Islands; with 3-4 case studies of CEA operations in the HIE area (while this should include large(r) enterprise, the focus is to  small business and community and social enterprise. To achieve this representation, a geographical, demographic relevant example from elsewhere in Scotland might also be included). Case Studies should comment on scale, mode of operation, route to market, risks, observations on extent of training/skills that were or are needed and wider benefits to local community (e.g. mental health and employment);

• Create a short ‘how to’ guide for organisations (communities, social enterprise, small businesses) to consult when exploring the potential to use CEA in their growing operations, based on two ‘mock’ scenarios e.g.
  • A vertical farm in island/rural community that is run on renewables;
  • Another (lower tech) type of CEA aligned to anaerobic digestion.
• Provide recommendations for HIE and OIC as to their planning and support for CEA initiatives.

In meeting these objectives, the Fellowship should not duplicate existing research or knowledge and for which there is a range of pre-existing reports and whjch will be made available: including for example but not limited to the Global CEA Census Report 2021; SRUC Report on Rural and Agricultural Development; SAOS guide to CEA expertise and support ; Rural and Islands report 2023  but focus on new value, specific to business case development.

The goal is to support people, businesses and communities to understand opportunities for setting up CEA. The Fellowship should take into account the breadth of technology associated with CEA, from low tech (polytunnels) to more complex setups e.g. aquaponics, hydroponics and vertical farming and co-location benefits alongside energy and heat sources e.g. renewable energy and anaerobic digestion.  To achieve this, workshops with communities/enterprises active or interested in CEA may be held to gather information for case studies.

Outcomes

The Fellow(s) will provide short reports as set under the objectives and an overall SEFARI Case Study coalescing and linking these reports by the end of March 2025.

Practicalities

The details of the final Fellowship work plan will be iterated and agreed with the successful Fellow(s). The Fellowship is an opportunity for an early career through to established senior researcher or a small research team (max 3).

The Fellow(s) should expect to spend the equivalent of up to 28 days (to a maximum total funding of £20,000 for time) on the project, although the exact number of days, their timing, and their pattern through the working week will depend on personal circumstances. Workshops will be supported by separate funding from Gateway.

We anticipate the Fellowship running for 2.5 months (though this is open to negotiation with SEFARI Gateway).

Please note that costs should be submitted net of VAT recovered by the applicant. Applicants should seek advice on appropriate VAT treatment of proposed funding.

Further Details

The Fellowship is open to applicants from staff:

• from any SEFARI Organisation
• ENRA Portfolio Centres of Expertise
• Staff within any UK Higher Education Institution (or Research Institute)
• Please note, you do not need to have been previously funded by Scottish Government via the Portfolio to qualify for SEFARI Gateway funding
• Applicants must have the support of their organisation. Sign-off should be at the level deemed appropriate for each organisation (please talk to your line manager), but Directors/Chief Executives of your Institute (or University school as appropriate) should be made aware.
• The taking of such an opportunity should not result in a candidate going beyond the end of any agreed contract they may have with their employer.
• It is recognised that individual circumstances are different and support levels will vary depending on salary, distance from the opportunity and so on – the support level will be kept under review to try and maintain a fair and equitable competition and process. The organisation of the successful fellow(s) should not expect to meet any costs beyond that paid for by SEFARI Gateway.
• The successful candidate(s) will be expected to contribute to relevant meetings or outputs for the project partners as the Fellowship progresses and to generate knowledge exchange related content for SEFARI Gateway (support will be offered on this).

Applications

Applications should be made to: info@sefari.scot and should include a cover letter (two pages of detail on your suitability or that of the team) and a two-page CV (or up to 6 pages for a team). Decisions on who to interview will be based solely on this letter and CV(s).

The cover letter should include:

• Why are you interested in this opportunity and what you would hope to get from it?
• What skills and experience would you bring to this role?
• How would you use your current work to underpin the project?
• What would you do to take the learning back into your organisation?

Team-based applications should demonstrate how they propose to manage individual contributions to satisfy the degree of multi-disciplinary integration required and clearly identify a Fellowship Team Lead.

The deadline for applications is 5pm on Monday 6^th January 2025, interviews will be held within with the following two weeks and by agreement with applicants.

If you have any questions on this, or any general aspect of the SEFARI Fellowship scheme, please contact Michelle Wilson Chalmers, Manager, SEFARI Gateway at: michelle.wilson@sefari.scot