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Research

Research

A multi-million pound programme of strategic research delivered over five years providing science and evidence to support policymakers and its partners. Informed by strong partnerships and the needs of a broad range of stakeholders. Science at the heart of society contributing to the health, wealth and wellbeing of Scotland and beyond.

Plant and Animal Health

Protecting Plant and Animal Health to underpin our globally competitive economy and ambition to be a Good Food Nation

Sustainable Food Supply System

Leading the way to a Sustainable Food System and Supply contributing to the economy, livelihoods and the health of Scotland

Human Impacts on the Environment

Supporting the large-scale and coordinated transition to net zero and reduction of Human Impacts on the Environment

Natural Resources

Protecting, valuing and optimising the multiple benefits we recieve from our vital Natural Resources

Rural Futures

Committed to empowered, inclusive and resilient Rural Futures for Scotland’s rural and island communities

Ongoing research (2022-2027)

Displaying 21 - 30 of 31
Effectiveness of water management

To enable the uptake of measures that will improve water management, both to improve water quality and to contribute to flood risk management.  This RD examines the options to improve water management in the complex socio-economic and policy settings of 'real world' catchment management.

  • Water
  • 2016-2022
How rural economies can adapt to key external drivers

The aim of this RD is to improve understanding of recent and anticipated adaptive responses to environmental change, policy drivers and market shifts. This will identify processes of innovation, diversification and collaborative action in agricultural household adjustment and assess future influences on the adaptive capacity of segments of the agriculture sector. 

  • Improving Agricultural Practice
  • Land Use
  • 2016-2022
Identifying and understanding multiple benefits and trade-offs

Identifying and understanding multiple benefits and trade-offs – this work aims to have developed approaches that will support integrated decision-making to protect multiple natural assets and maximise benefits in socially acceptable ways. We will have identified and quantified impacts on, and trade-offs among, multiple ecosystem services (ESS) generated by land use and land management change across spatial scales.

This will entail:

  • Natural Capital
  • 2016-2022
Natural Asset Inventory and Natural Capital Accounts

Natural Asset Inventory and Natural Capital Accounts: the aim is to develop a spatially-referenced register of Scotland’s natural assets and contribute to a set of natural capital accounts for Scotland that can over time track the progress of Scotland's green growth aspirations.

  • Natural Capital
  • 2016-2022
Practical interventions to realise multiple benefits and manage trade-offs

The aim of this research is to evaluate the potential to manage trade-offs and deliver multiple benefits from natural assets at the landscape scale. Focussing on agri-environment and woodland expansion schemes, together with integrated catchment management, the research uses practical examples to explore trade-offs and impacts taking into account social and cultural values as well environmental considerations in relation to land use and land use change.

  • Natural Capital
  • 2016-2022
Resilience of rural economies to key external drivers

The aim of this RD is to address how well Scotland’s rural industries (e.g. farming, forestry and tourism) can cope with outside pressures such as price volatility, new trade agreements and changes in government policies. The key drivers for this research are:

  • Improving Agricultural Practice
  • Land Use
  • Rural Economy
  • Land Reform
  • 2016-2022
Soil and GHG emissions

To improve understanding of the impacts of extensive land use and management on greenhouse gas dynamics  The work will focus on the impacts of land use, including the agricultural intensification of extensive/upland soils and the management of semi-natural ecosystems such as peatlands and moorlands (wet and dry heathlands excluding areas of deep peat) on soil carbon stocks and greenhouse gas dynamics to reduce the uncertainty in our estimates of GHG uptake and release from these systems and to enhance our understanding of the impacts of forest-to-bog peatland restoration...

  • Soils
  • 2016-2022
Soil management

To support the sustainable use and management of Scotland’s soil resource. We will provide new and improved tools to predict how soil functions respond to land use, management and environmental pressures.

  • Soils
  • 2016-2022
Soil resilience

To understand resilience of soils in Scottish semi-natural ecosystems.  This research aims to understand the relationships among disturbance factors, soil properties, processes and soil functions for a range of important Scottish semi-natural ecosystems (peatland, moorland, woodland, grassland, alpine systems). This will enable assessments of the resilience of soil functions to changes in climate, environmental, and socio-economic factors.

  • Soils
  • 2016-2022
Water and its ecosystem functions

To understand how  pressures such as problems arising from agricultural and urban land use and, increasingly, climate change affect the biophysical and ecological processes within our catchments.  The focus of the research is on understanding how the biophysical and ecological processes within water bodies operate and contribute to the delivery of ecosystem function and health.

  • Water
  • 2016-2022

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