Future of UK Treescapes Programme – Enhancing the Impact of Research

Funding for knowledge exchange activities that seek to accelerate and amplify the impact of research from the Future of UK Treescapes programme.

The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), with the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), has issued a call to undertake knowledge exchange activities to accelerate and amplify the impact of research from the Future of UK Treescapes programme.

Future of UK Treescapes is an interdisciplinary programme, led by NERC, that seeks to significantly improve the environmental, socioeconomic and cultural understanding of the functions and services provided by UK treescapes. The aim is to inform decision-making on the expansion of future treescapes for the benefits of the environment and society. ‘Treescapes’ are landscapes in which trees are an important element eg woodland, parks or hedgerows. Three research themes have been identified to address the overarching objectives of the programme:

• Theme 1: Forms, functions and values of UK treescapes.
• Theme 2: Opportunities, barriers and pathways for expansion of UK treescapes.
• Theme 3: Resilience of UK treescapes to global change.

This Enhancing the Impact of Research call is the third call for proposals under the Future of UK Treescapes programme. It aims to fund a portfolio of knowledge exchange projects designed to accelerate and amplify the reach and impact of funded research from the Future of UK Treescapes programme with diverse external stakeholders, including policymakers and practitioners.

Applicants are strongly encouraged to contact the funded research projects and the ambassadors to discuss knowledge exchange needs at the project or programme level before starting to develop their application.

Applicants should clearly describe how they will build on or complement knowledge exchange activities with external stakeholders being delivered by the funded research projects and the programme ambassadors’ team. This will maximise the added value of knowledge exchange projects and ensure effective translation of research outputs to help drive through long term impact of the programme.

While the funders welcome applicants to engage with funded treescapes fellows, applications should primarily seek to increase the impact of funded research projects.

Applicants should describe the type and scale of knowledge exchange they believe is required to help deliver treescapes expansion and improve their resilience in the UK at different scales and over different time periods.

A clear programme of work for knowledge exchange should be set out that could include a range of activities and approaches targeting different stakeholders. Approaches include, but are not limited to:

• Drawing together and synthesising outputs from multiple research projects around specific themes or topics where synergies or overlap exist.
• Exploring new and dynamic ways for policymakers at different levels in the UK (including devolved administrations) and the Future of UK Treescapes research community to exchange information, ideas and understanding.
• Helping landowners, businesses, charitable organisations and the public with the practical challenges of applying the Future of UK Treescapes research outputs.

The funders welcome engagement and leadership from all research areas and fields of practice that are relevant to creating an effective knowledge exchange approach and sharing outputs. These might include specialists and professionals in areas such as (but are not limited to) communication, public engagement, IT and design. Applicants should make the case for the composition of the project team and the relevance and application of their expertise.

Applicants are expected to co-design or co-deliver the project with at least one stakeholder organisation, such as a local authority, landowner, non-governmental organisation (NGO), local community group or the general public. There is a particular desire to fund proposals that aim to explore novel ways of engaging stakeholders who have low levels of engagement with the Future of UK Treescapes programme at present. It is expected that stakeholder project partners will help shape the application to ensure the outputs meet a specific need and will collaborate with the project team throughout the duration of the grant.