UKRI – Resilient UK Coastal Communities and Seas

Funding available to enhance the resilience, health and wellbeing of UK coastal communities and seas.

The Resilient UK Coastal Communities and Seas programme is jointly funded by central funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and AHRC, ESRC, Defra and NERC.

This programme will address the critical need for a transdisciplinary and a whole systems understanding of the resilience of UK coastal seas, coastal communities, and the natural capital these areas support. To support collaboration with stakeholders to build understanding and enable transformative decision-making utilising natural capital or other approaches.

The programme will enhance community knowledge mobilisation and improve resilience in the management of UK coastal areas and seas.

The programme objectives are to:

• Apply place-based approaches to transform our understanding of climatic, environmental, health, economic, social, and cultural factors affecting UK coastal communities and seas
• Develop the resilient management of UK coastal seas, coastal communities, and the natural capital these areas depend on and support, by delivering the evidence base, tools and practical solutions
• Inform policy and enable transformative decision making in collaboration with local communities
• Build capacity and capability for transdisciplinary research and the mobilisation of research evidence within UK coastal communities and seas.

The anticipated long-term outcomes of the programme will be a coordinated network of academics, policy makers, communities and wider stakeholders that are able to implement scalable solutions to improve the resilience, health and wellbeing of UK coastal communities.

Proposals for the research projects should take a transdisciplinary approach, to address at least two of the following thematic areas.

• Theme one: understand the impacts of climate change on UK coastal areas to build resilience of marine environments and coastal communities, and to enhance ocean literacy.
• Theme two: to enhance resilience in UK coastal areas by understanding the challenges experienced by coastal communities, and the potential effects on the natural environment.
• Theme three: articulate the value and benefits of coastal environments and communities to transform decision making and improve outcomes.