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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.
Explore our research projects
This project aims to generate insights on the economics of higher-value status food and drink products. The research quantifies the extent to which such products hold a price premium and face higher production costs than standard products, examines the key factors are in achieving a higher/lower gross margin, understands the impact of EU exit and other developments in international trade; and identifies opportunities to develop and promote them.
- Food & Drink Improvements
- 2022-2027
Changing environmental conditions necessitate adaptations in Scottish agriculture. This project investigates the development of crop species that are resilient to combinations of environmental stresses whilst using resources more efficiently. We test the hypothesis that utilisation of latent diversity in crop species can improve both resource efficiency and stress tolerance.
- Crop Improvement
- 2022-2027
Use of precision livestock farming tools is increasing globally. When exploited fully, these can aid farm-level management, improve animal health, welfare and productivity, monitor or reduce emissions, and improve traceability. This project explores current and new digital innovations, key barriers to adoption and solutions, and provide a robust evidence base demonstrating benefits of integrated data use within beef, sheep and dairy systems.
- Livestock Improvement
- 2022-2027
This project uses experimental and national farm data to develop new analytical methods to create new predictions, alerts and management tools for dairy cow, herd and supply efficiency, health and sustainability.
- Livestock Improvement
- 2022-2027
The consumer has a right to know what is contained within the food they eat. Allied to this, there is a significant risk in the food supply chain of fraud where a food is replaced by a cheaper or inferior alternative. This project will develop mass spectrometry-based approaches for determining the provenance of food and beverages. We are developing methods for determining the composition of whisky and meats to ensure their integrity.
- Diet & Food Safety
- 2022-2027
This project investigates how behaviour change at the individual, household and organisational level creates challenges and opportunities for moving to a more circular economy.
- Circular Economy & Waste
- 2022-2027
The project is mitigating threats posed to key crops by new, emerging and endemic pests and pathogens, to protect Scotland’s industries and delivering integrated and sustainable crop protection strategies for Scottish growers.
- Plant Disease
- 2022-2027
This project develops a range of advanced laboratory-based systems to investigate how production- and welfare-limiting diseases of Scottish livestock establish infections in their hosts. Our work is underpining the development of novel vaccines and diagnostic tests by identifying the animals’ response to disease and it’s initiation of protection as well as providing new methods for pathogen isolation and identification.
- Animal Disease
- 2022-2027
This projects aim to identify the most effective food swaps, based on an individual’s diet, that makes their shopping basket more healthy and environmentally sustainable; and monitor in real-time whether physiological, psychological and environmental factors, at an individual level, affect the adoption of such food swaps and make individual diets healthier and more environmentally sustainable, in young adults.
- Food & Drink Improvements
- 2022-2027
This project is integrating model-based assessment of future risks to water quality and quantity under a range of scenarios, with new empirical water quality data and socio-economic risk assessment for drinking water supplies.
- Water
- 2022-2027