Gerry Lawson & Pamela Kempton NERC Swindon 21 Sept Development of NERC’s next science strategy: an update for the SEERAD Strategic Science Advisory Panel

NERC Council is developing the next Strategy to replace Science for a Sustainable future 2002 – To be launched mid 2007, but Science priorities are required by September 2006 for spending review submissions. Seven Strategic Science themes have been identified by Council. NERC Strategy Development

Treasury: 5 policy challenges for CSR2007 “Increasing pressures on our natural resources and global climate from rapid economic and population growth in the developing world and sustained demand for fossil fuels in advanced economies” (NERC leading among Councils) NERC Strategy Development

Council has identified: NERC’s major contribution will be in providing foresight of the future state of the environment to allow business, policy and society to make informed choices. NERC Strategy Development

Council has delegated responsibility for developing the seven strategic science themes to SISB. Strategy development panels for each theme. –Forecasting and mitigation of natural hazards –Environment, pollution and human health –Biodiversity –Climate systems –Sustainable use of natural resources plus two cross-cutting themes: –Earth System Science –Technologies NERC Strategy Development 7 Themes

Previous Biodiversity Research Trend in Biodiversity ENRI

Grants & Fellowships Spend 04/05 Funding primarily Terrestrial (60%), Marine (25%) and Freshwater (11%)

Current NERC Biodiversity Research In 04/05 –£13.2m on biodiversity component of 530 Grants & Fellowships (using ENRIs) –£8.3m on biodiversity component of 874 Studentships. –£2.3m (net) on biodiversity programme of CEH –£1.17 to CPB & £90k to PopNet (rising to £500k) –Uncertain amounts to BAS and Marine Centres –Subscriptions to Diversitas, GBIF, EuroDIVERSITY, GLOBEC and other small grants.

Biodiversity Strategy Development Panel Chair: Georgina Mace. The origin, maintenance and management of biodiversity in the natural world, the risks to biodiversity from human impacts, including climate change and environmental change, and the opportunities and benefits presented by a rich and diverse natural environment.

Reducing the rate of loss of biodiversity Quantifying and communicating the benefits of biodiversity to the economy and society to influence policy Biodiversity Strategy Development Panel 2 overarching outcomes

Biodiversity Challenges New tools for discovery, assessment, and linking identity to function. –New (e.g.) molecular approaches to rapidly assess and understand biodiversity, and functions of organisms, populations, species and/or communities. Measuring abundance and distribution. –Development of a coherent set of measures of biodiversity across taxa, scales and ecosystems. Whole ecosystems: biodiversity functions and resilience. –The relationships between biodiversity and both ecosystem function and resilience.

Biodiversity Challenges Biodiversity and ecosystems in the face of environmental change. –The effects of environmental change on genes, populations species and communities. Biodiversity for life support. –Measuring and predicting the impact of biodiversity on human well being. Valuation of biodiversity. –Development of an objective method to directly and indirectly estimate the value of biodiversity

Science Drivers & Challenges Bioinformatics, data management and distributed computing Long term survey, long term experimentation. Systematics and taxonomy Poor knowledge of marine and freshwater biodiversity (compared with terrestrial) Local and regional linkages Understanding of the role of microorganisms

Key areas for policy makers Environmental limits (‘tipping points’) Soils Urban biodiversity Impacts of agri-environment schemes

Common themes and issues Multidisciplinary science –The importance of collaboration with scientists in other disciplines –The barriers to funding multidisciplinary science in responsive mode. –Concern about future competencies and capabilities in the core sciences esp. maths, stats, physics and chemistry. Strategy Development Panels Key Hazards EPHH Biodiversity Climate System SUNR Earth System Science Technologies

Common themes and issues Survey and monitoring. –Need for long term monitoring / data sets. –Low cost and robust sensors. –Quantitative remote sensing. Data management. –Improved management of data sets. –Better tools to analyse data. –Better access to a wide variety of data sets. Strategy Development Panels

Common themes and issues Modelling –Software models are used in much of NERC research. –Understanding and communicating uncertainty. Omics research –High throughput technologies. –Better storage and retrieval of this data. Funding through responsive mode –The importance of fundamental science. –Difficulty of funding applied science through responsive mode. –Problems of funding long term programmes through short term grants. Strategy Development Panels

Next steps Recommendations to SISB - 11/12 July SISB’s overall recommendations go to Council in September Results will inform discussions on CSR2007 with DGSI in October Draft Strategy will be open to consultation. Publish Strategy mid 2007

Potential Collaboration Diversitas BRAG EPBRS EU Framework 7 BiodivERsA – Porto Meeting May 4 th 06 Porto: any common biodiversity research call should: –Provide added value both at European and National levels –Help solve problems in the “real world” while also providing scope for basic research and the development of innovative and/or interdisciplinary approaches –Be likely to result in successful collaboration/ building on existing strengths –Not be limited to particular ecosystems –Implement agreed international and European research priorities.

NERC Strategy Development Questions?