Research projects

The Land Use for Net Zero, Nature and People (LUNZ) Hub is an innovative research initiative that will help drive the transformation of UK land use needed to achieve net zero by 2050. 

PineBiome is a collaborative project that aims to quantify how host genotype and microbiome composition combine to influence susceptibility to Dothistroma needle blight disease in pine trees.

The character of the Scottish upland landscape is shaped by domestic livestock grazing. The James Hutton Institute and collaborators have been conducting a grazing experiment at the Woodland Trust’s Glen Finglas estate, in the southern Highlands, since 2002.

CODECS aims to support farmers and growers across Europe to improve their understanding of the social, economic and environmental benefits and costs of digital tools.

COEVOLVERS is a four-year EU funded project, exploring how to more actively involve communities in nature-based activities across Europe.

The James Hutton Institute is taking part in LOWINFOOD, an EU-funded multi-actor project aimed to design low-waste food value chains through the demonstration of innovative solutions to reduce food loss and waste.

NINE aims to develop our understanding of the impacts of nitrogen deposition on natural ecosystems in Scotland in the context of changing climate and land-use pressures.

MOORCO stands for moorland colonisation and is an umbrella project encompassing four different experimental platforms that study the impact of woodland expansion onto heather dominated moorland.

The Tree of Knowledge (ToK) is a collaborative project bringing together three UKRI Future of UK Treescapes projects: MEMBRA, newLEAF, and DiversiTree. Our goal is to communicate the complexity of forest resilience, exchanging knowledge and synthesizing the findings from these projects.

MERLIN stands for Mainstreaming Ecological Restoration of freshwater-related ecosystems in a Landscape context: INnovation, upscaling and transformation. MERLIN is a European Horizon 2020 project (2021-2025).

DiversiTree aims to increase the resilience of current and future woodlands to climate change and tree diseases by understanding the methods to, and the impacts of, diversifying tree species composition within our woods.

Across many sectors, decision-making and planning processes have typically not prioritised or consider nature as important. As a result, nature continues to be degraded.  One response to this challenge is the concept of ‘Natural Capital’ – the stocks and flows of services arising from nature.

The overall objective of MOVING is to build capacities and co-develop for the establishment of new or upgraded/upscaled value chains that contribute to resilience and sustainability of mountain areas.

Natural capital valuation can offer a basis for decision-making and monitoring the effects of policies, land and resource management decisions.

To develop, promote and implement crop species mixtures as a sustainable crop production system for Scotland and as a resource for knowledge exchange on food production, agricultural ecology, and environmental sustainability to a wider audience including school groups.

The stories presented here reflect the experiences of people involved in the Creating Natural Connections project, such as volunteers, participants in nature walks, project staff and trainees.

Climate change poses a substantial threat to Scotland’s air, water, soils, geology and all living things – our natural capital. There is therefore an urgent need to research the impacts of climate change on Scotland’s assets.

In the context of the climate and biodiversity emergencies, there is a need not only to mitigate against these changes, but also adapt to current and future water-related environmental pressures.

Research increasingly asserts that biodiversity enhancement and conservation will be more inclusive and effective if we pay serious and analytical attention to narratives.