The UK Research and Innovation has awarded £516,524 to DiversiTree, a collaborative project led by the James Hutton Institute, to investigate resilience across the country’s woodlands.

Woods and forests account for more than 13% of the UK’s land surface, but the UK government’s ambition is to increase this to 17% as part of UK’s plans to reach net zero emissions by 2050. 

Scientists at the James Hutton Institute are researching ways to prepare for and prevent future threats to arable and horticultural production in Scotland.  In work funded by the Scottish Government’sRural and Environment Science and Analytical Services (RESAS), the research aims to prioritise threats to crop production and analyse likely future scenarios with stakeholders to find ways of avoiding these risks.

It is with great sadness that that we learned of the death of Her Majesty the Queen. The longest reigning monarch in British history, she lived through and presided over historic shifts in society as well as to the world itself. We will use this period as a time of both reflection and also a celebration of her spirit of curiosity and her life-long commitment to society.

Our condolences are with her family at this time

A Scottish scientist is to co-lead an elite project group of 22 European partners, looking to create resilient crops for the future. Yield is projected to plummet by a third due to extremes in temperatures and greater variation in rainfall patterns impacting on soil and the type of crops which can be grown.

James Hutton is often regarded as the founder of modern geology, his research reset the world view on the Earth's processes and made possible other major theories such as continental drift and the theory of evolution. However, many people still know so little about this key figure of the Scottish Enlightenment.

Today marks International Beer Day, a global celebration of beer, taking place in pubs, breweries, and backyards all over the world. Behind great tasting beer is great science, like the barley research taking place at the James Hutton Institute and the International Barley Hub.

An international partnership of blue carbon experts from the James Hutton Institute, the University of St Andrews, the Norwegian Geological Survey, and University College Dublin has been awarded funding under the Blue Carbon International Policy Challenge (BCIPC) to explore opportunities for maximising the co-benefits of blue carbon restoration projects in Scotland.

Researchers from the James Hutton Institute and the University of Aberdeen have worked with The Glenlivet distillery to introduce environmentally sustainable solutions at Chivas Brothers’ Speyside distillery to address water scarcity and protect whisky production.

Among the nature-based measures are small dams in the landscape supplying the distillery, designed to capture water during wet periods and to make this available when water is scarce.

The James Hutton Institute has announced the retirement of Professor Bob Ferrier following 37 years of service. Professor Ferrier contributed widely across Institute activities as a respected member of the Executive team and Director of the Centre of Expertise for Waters (CREW) based at the Hydro Nation International Centre. He held an Honorary Chair in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Dundee, Scotland, and is a member of the Scottish Science Advisory Council.

Potatoes in Practice (PiP), the UK’s largest field event for potatoes, is set to return to Balruddery Farm in Angus on Thursday 11th August 2022 with a focus on new research and current challenges.