Natural Environment Research Council has three announcements which will be of interest to the Network.
1. NERC’s public engagement with research strategy – Have your say
NERC is creating a new strategy for public engagement with environmental science research and has published a draft which is open to feedback. The strategy is available for feedback from 31 July to 7 September through an online consultation process– external link.
The strategy builds on current and previous investments, from the NERC Community for Engaging Environments, its largest single investment in public engagement, through to grants given to individual researchers. It is presenting a bold approach to support engaged research and ensures that it is listening to the public, as one of its stakeholders.
Following the consultation period, the strategy will be published in late 2019.
Consultation event
As part of listening to its communities about the new public engagement with research strategy, NERC will run an event on Tuesday 15 October, to get feedback and understand how it can work with its partners to achieve the strategy. The event will also celebrate research that has successfully demonstrated purposeful engagement in the research community.
To apply to attend the event, please see details on the consultation event page.
2. Grant to embed engagement – Announcement of Opportunity
Closing date for outline proposals: 16:00 on Monday 30 September 2019
The success of the public engagement with environmental science research strategy relies on NERC’s partners and stakeholders. This includes ensuring that it assists institutions, which enable engaged research to thrive. To support this, NERC is inviting proposals for small projects which will demonstrate how the NERC public engagement with research strategy aligns with activity that its community and institutions are, and plan to be, delivering.
Successful proposals will receive between £2,000 and £5,000 to deliver the project between November 2019 and March 2020. One page proposals for projects must be submitted by 16:00 on Monday 30 September 2019. Shortlisted projects will be invited to present their proposal on Tuesday 15 October and will be advised on the day if they have been successful.
Please visit the NERC website to download the Announcement of Opportunity
3. Constructing a Digital Environment workshops
4 October 2019 (Friday) Cardiff
10 October 2019 (Thursday) London
16 October 2019 (Wednesday) Edinburgh
Cost: Free (attendees are responsible for funding their own travel)
Deadline: 16:00 on 6 September 2019
NERC is inviting individuals to submit expressions of interests (EoIs) to attend workshops for the NERC-led four-year £10·4 million Constructing a Digital Environment programme in either Cardiff (4 October), London (10 October) or Edinburgh (16 October).
The workshops aim to bring together the ‘digital environment’ community, including (but not limited to) environmental science, computer science, informatics, statistics, social science, data science, policymakers and members of industry, and follows on from the first workshop held in Manchester earlier in 2019.
The workshops will include presentations from the NERC Digital Environment Team and the Constructing a Digital Environment Champions Ron Corstanje and Steve Hallett and other project partners. The days will primarily focus on networking and discussions around specific digital environment themes ahead of a future funding opportunity.
The themes discussed will be suggested by participants via a well-sorted.org study for which participants will be sent a link within three days of expressing interest. Each participant will need to fill out a response to a key question which will feed in to the workshop content. The responses will be grouped together to establish the discussion sessions. Please note that within three days of your EoI you will receive an email containing a link to the relevant Well Sorted study. If you have not received it, please check your junk/spam folder.
Due to the limited space available, EoIs are being requested, from which NERC Head Office will select attendees to ensure a balance of expertise and institutional representation. To submit an expression of interest in attending, please complete the online registration form.
The deadline for submitting EoIs and the accompanying Well Sorted response for this workshop is 16:00 on 6 September 2019. Individuals will be notified whether their application to attend has been successful by 20 September 2019.
More details about the programme can be found on the Constructing a Digital Environment website