Cross Disciplinary Research for Discovery Science
Lead Research Organisation:
Aberystwyth University
Department Name: Vice Chancellor's Office
Abstract
At Aberystwyth University (AU) we will allocate the Cross-disciplinary research in Discovery Science award via open competition for a suite of smaller activities. This will be achieved through an existing mechanism set up to award our internal University Research Fund, albeit the call will be tailored to specify the requirements of this cross-disciplinary award. This tailored approach has been used successfully in the past at AU to achieve the goals of the NERC Discipline-hopping scheme (2021/22).
For the proposed NERC Cross-disciplinary research in Discovery Science scheme at AU, awards of up to £20k will be made to Research teams, although awards of a higher amount may be considered as an exception if a case can be made and there is a convincing plan to utilise the budget within the available timeframe. The internal call will be launched in late October with the aim of making awards in late November to start early December. Researchers from all disciplines will be eligible to apply as long as the primary focus is on cross-disciplinary research within NERC Discovery Science. Applications will be assessed by the University's Research and Innovation Task Group (RITG) and will be scored against criteria in-line with the purpose of the cross-disciplinary award.
By making this scheme an open call, all academic staff who are eligible (academics and researchers employed by AU at lecturer (or equivalent) level or above and Post-Doctoral Research Assistants) will have the opportunity to apply. The call guidance will also explicitly state that applications involving Early Career Researchers and individuals from under-represented groups are particularly encouraged. Successful applicants who are Early Career Researchers will be allocated a mentor (a Senior Researcher from their Faculty) to provide additional support as required. The diversity of applicants to, and award recipients of, open call Cross-disciplinary research in Discovery Science funding will be monitored by RITG with the support of the AU Diversity and Inclusion Manager. Equality impact assessment results will be used to reflect on funding allocations and inform our AU evidence base to identify positive changes in the applicant diversity as well as opportunities to make further improvements in future processes, in accordance with the AU Strategic Equality Plan 2020-2024.
For the proposed NERC Cross-disciplinary research in Discovery Science scheme at AU, awards of up to £20k will be made to Research teams, although awards of a higher amount may be considered as an exception if a case can be made and there is a convincing plan to utilise the budget within the available timeframe. The internal call will be launched in late October with the aim of making awards in late November to start early December. Researchers from all disciplines will be eligible to apply as long as the primary focus is on cross-disciplinary research within NERC Discovery Science. Applications will be assessed by the University's Research and Innovation Task Group (RITG) and will be scored against criteria in-line with the purpose of the cross-disciplinary award.
By making this scheme an open call, all academic staff who are eligible (academics and researchers employed by AU at lecturer (or equivalent) level or above and Post-Doctoral Research Assistants) will have the opportunity to apply. The call guidance will also explicitly state that applications involving Early Career Researchers and individuals from under-represented groups are particularly encouraged. Successful applicants who are Early Career Researchers will be allocated a mentor (a Senior Researcher from their Faculty) to provide additional support as required. The diversity of applicants to, and award recipients of, open call Cross-disciplinary research in Discovery Science funding will be monitored by RITG with the support of the AU Diversity and Inclusion Manager. Equality impact assessment results will be used to reflect on funding allocations and inform our AU evidence base to identify positive changes in the applicant diversity as well as opportunities to make further improvements in future processes, in accordance with the AU Strategic Equality Plan 2020-2024.
Publications

Van De Koot WQM
(2024)
Variation in Water-Holding Capacity in Sphagnum Species Depends on Both Plant and Colony Structure.
in Plants (Basel, Switzerland)
Description | This award supported five different cross-disciplinary topic areas, bringing together researchers across wide ranging disciplines to develop and explore a diverse range of topics and to engage in new forms of communication and dialogue to advance our understanding of the environment. Project activities ranged from the creation of new film and poetry based on the lives of dairy cattle, to the repurposing of biomedical imaging techniques to understand the substructure of peatland bogs. For example, in one topic area the project brought together a new collaboration of biologists, geographers, and computer scientists, with the aim of extracting new knowledge from high resolution imaging of peatland species. Peatlands are a key factor in climate change, contributing to increased greenhouse gas storage or increased emissions, depending on how they are managed. The project utilised cross discipline expertise to extend a prototype image analysis pipeline that can accurately annotate Sphagnum moss in images taken with consumer smartphones into high resolution imaging captured by drones. The image processing pipeline was shown to be very robust and the technical requirements for drone based image capture and data processing were refined. The findings from the project have been incorporated into a manuscript for publication which suggests that species choice and planting density should receive more attention when considering peatland restoration strategies (Van de Koot et al. 2024, https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13081061). Biomedical CT technology has been repurposed for investigating the substructure of bogs, and links to a super-high resolution CT facility have been established. Mutually beneficial new links have also been made between Plant, Computer and Geographical Scientists. |
Exploitation Route | Informing peatland restoration strategies and management practices to increase resilience to desiccation and contribute to climate mitigation strategies through carbon sequestration by healthy peatlands. |
Sectors | Environment |
Description | GAP Mapping |
Amount | € 50,000 (EUR) |
Funding ID | 1481-002 |
Organisation | Wetlands International |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | Netherlands |
Start | 03/2024 |
End | 01/2025 |
Description | Top-down methane modelling |
Organisation | University of Edinburgh |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Wetland mapping approach developed via the NERC award has significant potential for driving new and improved estimates of methane emissions from natural wetlands. Collaboratively we have developed 4 grant proposals on the back of this work. |
Collaborator Contribution | Top-down methane emission modelling, utliising our maps of wetland inundation extent. |
Impact | Proposals: NERC pushing frontiers (unsuccessful); NERC large (responses received); Horizon EU (unsuccessful) |
Start Year | 2023 |
Description | Wetland mapping |
Organisation | Wetlands International |
Country | Netherlands |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | Our wetland mapping routines developed as part of the NERC award were adapted and deployed over the Sahel region of Africa to construct wetland inventories over an under-mapped region. |
Collaborator Contribution | Links with local wetland international offices. Visit from Kenyan wetland scientist. Assistance in validation of products. Provision of funding. Spotlighting research at international meetings (UN) |
Impact | Report. Sahel wetland inventory. Follow on project mapping Amazonian wetlands. Project partner on NERC proposal. |
Start Year | 2023 |
Description | Panel discussion on AI and art, International Ceramics Festival |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Panel discussion on AI and art featuring Matt Jarvis and Joseph Thurgate, chaired by Helen Miles. The discussion was driven by our research into multispecies politics and how computers might 'speak'. This session was part of the AI and Ceramics Symposium at the International Ceramics Festival. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |