People are instantly drawn to numbers. It’s a fact.
Using a list provides the reader with organisation, the opportunity to digest the information quickly and skim read.
In an ever-changing world, it is essential that individuals are able to access, and act upon, the most relevant information and advice, and no more so than in agriculture. In this technologically-evolving age, finding information is not an issue, but finding information that is trustworthy, and in a format that is fit for purpose, can be challenging.
Soil biodiversity is critical to ecosystem functioning, but our understanding of the richness and distribution of soil organisms lags far behind that of biodiversity above ground. The difficulties of detecting organisms that spend all or most of their time living below ground and a shortage of skilled scientists able to identify them have contributed to our general lack of knowledge. This is particularly true in alpine zones which support some of our most natural habitats and provide important ecosystem services, including supporting unique biodiversity, carbon storage and water supply.
The main youth conferences in association with COP26 were the Youth4Climate conference (hosted in Milan at the end of September 2021) and Coy16 – the 16th annual UN Climate Change Conference of Youth (hosted in Glasgow at the end of October 2021).
Working with Scotland’s water sector and water users such as the farming sector, school children and teachers, we have designed this informative, engaging and fun series of educational posters on the important topic of water. We hope that by communicating a clear message about water, and explaining the very words used to best describe it and its many links to human life, young people and the general public will be better able to respond with real solutions in the places they live and work.
The five CoEs are funded by the Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division (RESAS) and are part of the wider Scottish Government funded research portfolio, which is one of the largest for agri-environment research in the UK.
When first starting out in the ecology and conservation space in 2019, I was concerned about a lack of representation of women, people of colour, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. I felt so far removed from the decision makers, and as though there were several barriers to my success in this field. But it turns out that I just wasn’t looking in the right places.
Designed by an interdisciplinary team of scientific experts, and funded by SEFARI Gateway’s Responsive Opportunity Fund, our Google earth tours feature climate research from across SEFARI’s consortium of globally renowned institutes, namely Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland (BioSS), the James Hutton Institute, Moredun Research Institute, the Rowett Institute, Royal Botanic Garden E
After an introduction by Annie McRobbie (SSERC) the event began with Lee Innes (Moredun Research Institute) outlining resources covering a range of different topics relating to infectious diseases, immunology, diagnostics, vaccination, parasitology, biodiversity, climate change, food security and food safety. Moredun have developed several different educational resources and activities for secondary (and primary) school children working in collaboration with teachers and colleagues at SSERC.
New research, involving a partnership across the Portfolio between Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), SEFARI Gateway and the Plant Health Centre, has been examining a tale as old as agriculture – how farmers discuss farming. Farmers are quite a sociable group, often discussing on-farm practices with friends and colleagues who are farmers and/or those who engage in some aspect of agriculture.