Latest News

Funding Opportunity: UKRI citizen science exploration grants

Friday, September 20, 2019

UK Research and innovation is launching a new £400,000 funding call to encourage researchers and innovators to experiment with citizen science.

Citizen science is an important way in which diverse groups of people can participate and collaborate in research and innovation. This could include crowdsourcing data, working with volunteers to analyse existing datasets, collaborating with communities in designing research programmes, and approaches to innovation that involve diverse groups of people in the innovation process.  

UK’s prized habitats remain in bad condition, government data shows

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Some of the UK's most iconic habitats and species, such as blanket bog and dormice, remain in a bad or poor condition, according to government data.

Some animals, such as the mountain hare, have actually seen their status downgraded due to their ongoing decline, according to the latest environmental assessment of the UK’s European designated sites, published earlier this month by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee  on the European Environment Agency’s data collection website, Eionet.

Improved wastewater treatment has led to wildlife ‘success story’, research shows

Monday, September 16, 2019

Insect life has rebounded in a river receiving all of Swindon's wastewater thanks to substantial investments to improve sewage treatment, according to a DEFRA-funded study.

The River Ray in Wiltshire, which lies downstream of Swindon’s major sewage plant, is largely formed of treated wastewater and had seen steep declines in wildlife populations from the 1960s onwards. 

Rust fungus to tackle ‘out of control’ UK invasive

Thursday, August 29, 2019

A specialist natural enemy of Himalayan balsam is being introduced as part of a trial to kill off the invasive plant that has spread throughout south Wales.

Invasive species cost the UK economy £1.8bn every year, according to government figures. Experts believe the UK is home to around 2,000 non-native species, with about 10-15% of these deemed invasive – a plant or animal that does not have a natural predator to keep its numbers in check.

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