Tuesday 13th March 2012
The Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) 1 Carlton House Terrace, London

Business has been put at the centre of the stage to deliver the sustainable economy that the Government pledges to provide in the Natural Environment White Paper (NEWP).This creates real opportunities for businesses, in terms of new markets (e.g. via Payment for Ecosystem Services/Offsets/Restoration) and new collaborations with delivery agencies and other institutions (e.g. via Nature Improvement Areas).

This one-day event, supported by professional and business bodies, will provide a forum for businesses to engage directly with some of the key researchers working in this area.

With top speakers including Prof. Ian Bateman (Co-Leader of the Valuing Nature Network), Prof. Rosie Hails, MBE, (Leader of the Natural Capital Initiative), Prof. Dave Rafaelli (Leader of NERC’s Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Programme) and Dr Rob Bradburne of Defra, as well as key business leaders, the day will provide a mix of speakers, discussion and project-development breakout sessions.

Outcomes of the day will include:
 Identification of specific areas where there are already tools that could be used or developed further by industry in collaboration with academia
 Identification of common themes of interest and actions that would address these
 Initiation of project developments for internship funding

To register for this free event and for full details of the day and directions to IOM please go to http://natural-capital.eventbrite.com.

The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is seeking to appoint a new Chair of its Science and Innovation Strategy Board (SISB), to commence from April 2012, and is inviting applications from interested parties.

Further information and an application pack are available at
http://www.nerc.ac.uk/about/work/boards/science/.

The closing date for applications is Monday 13th February 2012 and interviews will be held in London on 7th and 9th March 2012.

Applications are invited for two new, twelve month, full time (part time working will be considered), policy placement secondment opportunities, to work with the Environment Agency based in Bristol.

These secondments are offered as part of NERC’s policy placement fellowship scheme which allows researchers and other staff involved in environmental science research to work closely with policy-makers within government and other public and third sector organisations in the UK.

The project areas for these policy placements are:

1. Ecosystem services and flood and coastal risk management.

2. Understanding the impacts of water abstraction and river flows on aquatic ecology.

Further details are available at http://www.nerc.ac.uk/using/publicsector/fellowship.asp

Please see “fellowship placement current opportunities” PDFs.

and further pdfs at http://www.nerc.ac.uk/using/publicsector/documents/ea-hydroecology-fellowship.pdf.

The closing date for applications is Friday 14th October 2011.

26-29 March 2012

Abstract submission is now open for this major international science conference focusing on solutions to the global sustainability challenge.

This is an open call for participants and for abstracts for presentations and posters to be submitted against the session topics described on the conference website under the following outline:

-Day 1: State of the planet: the latest knowledge about the pressures on the planet

-Day 2: Options and opportunities: exchanging knowledge about ways of reducing the pressures on the planet, promoting transformative changes for a sustainable future and adapting to changes in the global system

-Day 3: Challenges to progress: clarifying what is preventing or slowing humanity from implementing potential solutions

-Day 4: Ways ahead: a vision for 2050 and beyond, and exploring new partnerships and pathways towards global sustainability

Each day will include relevant aspects of the conference themes:

- A. Meeting global needs: food, energy, water and other ecosystem services
- B. Transforming our way of living: development pathways under global environmental change
- C. Governing across scales: innovative stewardship of the Earth system

The closing date for abstract submission is 19 August 2011.
Please note, additional sessions will be advertised over the next few weeks.

Developing World Involvement

A mentoring scheme is available for those who would like guidance in preparing abstracts and developing presentations for the conference. The conference organisers are also aiming to offer financial assistance to participants from the developing world.

Why you should attend

The conference will provide a comprehensive update of the pressure planet Earth is now under. The conference will discuss solutions at all scales to move societies on to a sustainable pathway and will provide scientific leadership towards the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development – Rio+20.

The programme is designed to attract senior policymakers, industry leaders, NGOs, young scientists, the media, health specialists, and academics from many disciplines.

For further information on submitting an abstract, conference themes and sessions, mentoring and funding visit: www.planetunderpressure2012.net.

[From the NERC Knowledge Exchange List Server]

After two days of exciting policy engagement training in London, the Policy Training Workshop organised by British Ecological Society (BES) and Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) has come to a close.

The event was attended by thirty NERC funded PhD students and early career scientists working in policy relevant research areas who wanted to further their skills in order to influence environmental policy through the effective communication of scientific information.

The workshop met these needs by providing participants with useful knowledge about how the policy-making process works, how scientists can engage with policy-makers and helped improve personal communication skills in order to influence decision-makers.

Training was packed with discussions, questions, networking opportunities and presentations on how to link science with policy, and the challenges and opportunities scientists face in doing so. Participants were also assigned a number of skill building tasks, culminating with the group exercise of creating a hypothetical policy briefing and then presenting the idea to a decision-maker. This exercise proved to be very helpful, giving participants a real insight into the do’s and don’ts of science communication, and preparing them for future interactions with politicians.

The BES and NERC knowledge exchange learning and development workshop on science policy interactions commences today. The workshop will involve participants from a variety of backgrounds including government, academia, and focus on improving science policy communication within ecological and environmental disciplines.

The two day workshop will feature presentations, case study exercises and group working with the overall aim of improving policy development within the participating organisations, and forming a network of “ambassadors” from the scientific community for policymakers to approach. The policy workshop is also an opportunity for scientists to share their experiences from the policy environment. This is the third annual policy training workshop aimed specifically at early career researchers (no more than 12 years since finishing their PhD).

The NERC Valuing Nature Network seeks to bring together academics and decision makers from all fields connected with the natural environment. Its first activities are a series of workshops to scope out key issues. Details of these scoping workshops are given below, and in the attached document. Further information and the opportunity to register is given at the VNN website at http://www.valuing-nature.net.

The initial scoping workshops will be held over the course of May 2011 as follows:

· Tuesday 10th May 2011, London – Scoping workshop for Biophysical Scientists

· Wednesday 11th May 2011, London – Scoping workshop for Statisticians and Modellers

· Friday 13th May 2011, London – Scoping workshop for Marine Ecologists

· Tuesday 17th May 2011, Nottingham – Scoping workshop on Human Dimensions

· Thursday 19th May 2011, London – Scoping workshop for Terrestrial & Freshwater Ecologists

· Friday 20th May 2011, London – Scoping workshop on Human Health and the Environment. Please contact Laura Bellingan at the Society of Biology (laurabellingan@societyofbiology.org).

· Monday 23rd May 2011, London – Scoping workshop for Economists

· Tuesday 24th May 2011, London – Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA)

All workshops are free of charge. Registration is now open. We aim to ensure that each scoping workshop embraces a representative diversity of views and participants and will have to select on that basis should workshops become oversubscribed. The intention is to inform all successful applicants at least ten days prior to the date of their workshop.

The scoping workshops are only the first phase of Network activities. Subsequent activities will include a ‘Town Meeting’ bringing together academics and decision makers from across all fields connected with the natural environment. This will be held in London on Friday 24th June so please note this date in your diary and we will write to all those who register with the Network subsequently with further details.

The Valuing Nature Network (VNN) in partnership with Natural Environment Resource Council (NERC) will be running a series of workshops on biodiversity and ecosystem service valuation in London during May 2011.

The workshops, supported by the Natural Capital Initiative (NCI), will cover a broad range of topics associated with valuing biodiversity, ecosystem services and natural resource use including;

- Abiotic (physical & chemical factors)
- Statistics & modelling
- Marine ecology
- Human dimensions
- Terrestrial & freshwater ecology
- Human health & the environment
- Economics (agriculture, environmental, ecological)
- Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA)

The series will bring together researchers from disciplines such as natural science, economics and social science, as well as decision makers from the business and policy sectors. The workshops aim to create a network of people across disciplines who are engaged in the value of the natural environment.

Outputs will then be used to define an agenda for subsequent interdisciplinary actions supported by the VNN, and improve decision making regarding the natural environment in the future.

To register your interest in attending these workshops see the Valuing Nature Network website.

The third annual joint NERC – BES Science Policy Interactions workshop (5- 6 May, in London) is now open for applications – but be quick; the closing date is 11th April at 17.00.

The Science Policy Interactions workshop is an opportunity for early-career researchers to find out first hand from policy-makers how they can inform decision-making with scientific evidence. Thirty early-career participants (no more than 12 years since finishing their PhDs – and either members of the BES or NERC-funded researchers) are joined at the workshop by those with experience of working in Government Departments, agencies or Parliament, and a number of peers with experience of informing policy development. Over the course of two days there is ample opportunity to interact with these individuals, through a series of presentations, case-studies and communications exercises.

A networking dinner on the evening of the first day allows participants to get to know one another, and hopefully contribute to another aim of the workshop – to create a cohort of well-informed, enthusiastic and engaged researchers who can help the BES, NERC and one another in engaging decision-makers with scientific advice.

To find out more, visit the BES website or contact the BES Policy Team for information.

This afternoon government departments have published details of their budget allocations for 2011-2015. This follows on from higher-level budgets allocated in the Treasury’s Comprehensive Spending Review published in November.

DEFRA has outlined the annual expenditure for each of its Arm’s Length Bodies – including Natural England, the Environment Agency and Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) – over the next four years. £45 million of budget cuts arm’s length bodies – approximately 5% in-year reductions- has already been decided for 2010/11.

Expenditure on the Environment Agency flood protection programme is expected to be over £2.1 billion between 2011 to 2015- or £540 million per year – roughly equivalent to 8% reduction in spending compared to the previous four years. Capital expenditure on flood protection will also be cut by over £100million by 2012. Natural England will have its resource budget cut by an average of £10million per year, with the deepest cuts taking place in 2012 (£12.8million) and 2013 (£14.2million).

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) also published its annual grant letter, detailing expenditure for the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) from 2011-12 to 2014-15. The full grant letter also indicates expenditure for 2012-13, the year that a new system for student finance will be implemented.

Science and research funding allocations were also published today by BIS, on behalf of the Business Secretary, Vince Cable and Universities Minister, David Willetts MP. Annual research council capital expenditure will decrease by over £212,000 over the next 4 years- up to 46% less than in 2010-11. However the Medical Research Council – which supports and directs medical research in universities and hospitals across the country- will see its resource budget increase by up to 5%, to approximately £574.6 million per year over the course of the spending review. The new UK Space Agency will also be allocated resource funding of up to £769.7 million overall. Roughly £205.6 million will be spent on the space agency in 2011/12.