High-Level NERC/Scottish Government Policy Placement Fellowship

Scotland has a wealth of natural resources, but they are under threat from over exploitation, invasive species, pest and disease outbreaks, pollution, changes in land use and climate change. Scotland's Land Use Strategy outlines a vision for 2050 that focuses on working with nature to contribute to Scotland's prosperity, responsible stewardship of Scotland's natural resources, and connecting people and land [1]. Achieving this vision relies on understanding how ecosystems work and how they are affected by the above threats. NERC funds world leading science including understanding ecosystems and their response to environmental change, both natural and anthropogenic. There is therefore a great opportunity for NERC and SG to work together to realise the 2050 vision for Scotland.

The Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services (RESAS) division of SG and NERC are major funders of environmental science in Scotland. In 2014-15, RESAS invested £31.8m in strategic research programmes [3] and NERC invested £16m in scientists working at universities and research institutes in Scotland [2]. In addition, RESAS invested £9.4m in underpinning research capacity at its Main Research Providers (MSPs) and £9.5m in three Centres of Expertise (CoEs). There is clear synergy between SG's two strategic research programmes - Environmental Change, and Food, Land and People - and NERC's three Societal Challenges - Benefiting from natural resources, Resilience to environmental hazards, and Managing environmental change [4]. NERC's activities in sustainable food production and valuing nature, for example, are highly relevant to Scotland's Land Use Strategy and NERC-funded research on the population dynamics and ecology of disease and vector organisms is highly relevant to current issues in animal and plant health [5].

The aim of this fellowship is to increase the impact of the funding investments by NERC and SG by strengthening the uptake of high-quality science into policy. The outcomes of this fellowship will include: stronger links between SG and research scientists; greater understanding of the strengths and limitations of current sources of evidence used by SG; improved alignment and operational links between SG and NERC; a framework agreement for a longer-term strategic partnership between SG and NERC.

Outcomes will be achieved by: working closely with policy and evidence teams in RESAS to understand their needs and constraints; reviewing the capabilities of MSPs, CoEs and NERC-funded scientists to address RESAS and SG's needs; facilitating events bringing policy/evidence leads and NERC-funded scientists together to discuss policy-relevant science issues; working with NERC and RESAS to develop a strategic framework for partnership working.

This fellowship will impact environmental science funding in Scotland by capitalising on previous investments, ensuring that critical capabilities are sustained and effectively coordinating limited resources. It will impact on environmental policy in Scotland by improving the evidence base used to inform policy decisions and by enhancing the effective translation of new and existing scientific knowledge into a form that is accessible and usable by policy makers.

The key stakeholders and beneficiaries of this fellowship are NERC-funded scientists working in Scotland, scientists working for the MSPs, staff working in policy and evidence teams in RESAS, NERC, SG and key partners (e.g. Scottish Natural Heritage, Scottish Environment Protection Agency), and last but not least the people of Scotland.

1.The Scottish Government 2011. Getting the best from out land. A land use strategy for Scotland; 2.Grants On The Web; 3.http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Research/About/EBAR/StrategicResearch/future-research-strategy; 4.NERC 2013. The business of the environment. Our strategic direction; 5.Government Office for Science 2015 Animal and Plant Health in the UK: Building our science capability