Faithful+Gould has been selected by The James Hutton Institute as the project manager for its new Just Transition Hub in Aberdeen, following the award of £7.2 million for the project from the Scottish Government late last year.

As project lead, Faithful+Gould, part of the SNC-Lavalin Group, will be appointing and leading a multi-disciplinary team providing quantity surveying and supervisory roles for the design and build of the hub.

Fast-growing green hydrogen technology start-up sHYp has moved into offices and laboratory space at The James Hutton Institute in Aberdeen with plans to expand to five staff on site by summer.

The move gives sHYp access to the institute’s specialist analytical equipment and expertise. This will help it to develop what could be the first electrolyser able to produce hydrogen from sea water, without the need for desalination, which traditional electrolysis techniques need. 

Farmers who want to adopt more sustainable and environmentally friendly farming methods could face lower short-term margins, but the long-term benefits could outweigh the pain, according to the results of an innovative crop trial in Scotland.

The James Hutton institute has invested more than £1.75 million in new, state-of-the-art laboratory equipment to enhance its leading independent scientific research capabilities across food, plant and soil health and quality.

The largest investment is in what is the only one of its kind Scotland, a combined ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography (UHLC) and high-resolution mass spectrometer (MS).

A shift to hybrid working practices following the coronavirus pandemic has led to some people swapping city living for country life. Now an international project will explore the scale, and pros and cons, of urban migration into rural, island and coastal communities across the globe.

The James Hutton institute’s head of forensic science, principal scientist Professor Lorna Dawson, has been appointed as a commissioner on the UK’s Food, Farming and Countryside Commission (FFCC).

The FFCC, which delivered the landmark Our Future in the Land report, before becoming an independent charity, is a leader in tackling the challenges faced by rural communities across the UK.

Colin Campbell, Chief Executive of the James Hutton Institute. This article first appeared in The Herald on 26 January

Global food security is going to be a dominant economic theme over the next decade. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine a year ago, we have all seen just how fragile the food ecosystem really is to acute shocks, as well as the chronic effects of climate extremes and pandemics.

Not washing vegetables grown in urban environments before eating them could increase people’s intake of heavy metal contaminants like lead by up to 130%, according to a new study.

The study, led by researchers from Sweden and Scotland, says that growing greens in city gardens has grown in popularity, but it can mean they more contain contaminants, including heavy metals, compared with shop-bought produce.

The James Hutton Institute has been awarded £1 million by the Wolfson Foundation, for equipment to support a new Molecular Phenotyping Centre. The Foundation is an independent charity with a focus on research and education. Its aim is to support civil society by investing in excellent projects in science, health, heritage, humanities and the arts.

The findings of a ground-breaking farm trial investigating potato varieties resistant to crop-destroying potato cyst nematodes (PCN) were revealed last week at the James Hutton Institute (JHI) in Invergowrie.

The PCN Action Scotland Winter Conference welcomed delegates from the Scottish farming community and shared updates from a 2022 trial to tackle the threat of the major potato pests.