Hutton Highlights, February 2020

Contents 04 News Highlights 06 Awards, Accolades & Appointments 08 TalentScotland Ambassadors 10 Crop mixtures – the route to greater sustainability? 12 Estimating climate change impact on Cairngorms snow cover 14 Turning animal feed green 16 New Hutton-SRUC partnership to help students gain real-world experience 18 Islands Revival Declaration points to evidence of population turnaround in Scottish islands 16 10 12 14 The James Hutton Institute magazine team Gillian Stirton, Bernardo Rodriguez-Salcedo, Adam Walker, Sarah Horne editor@hutton.ac.uk The James Hutton Institute is a well-respected and globally recognised research organisation delivering fundamental and applied science to drive the sustainable use of land and natural resources. @JamesHuttonInst /JamesHuttonInstitute /JamesHuttonInstitute New year, new decade, same need for great science New year, new decade, new edition of Hutton Highlights! I hope, though, that you’ll see here the same interesting and impactful overview of ongoing and recent Hutton research, contributions to understanding and stewarding aspects of the natural world and our use of its assets. 2020 is the International Year of Plant Health and in Scotland it is the Year of Coasts and Waters both of which are highly relevant to our work and a great backdrop for us to communicate what we do. It is also the prelude year to the UN Decade of Restoration reflecting the great urgency to find solutions to the climate crisis. At the same time, pressures on finances, resources and the planet continue in every sphere of life and society and we have to be ever more inventive in finding ways to get more from less in almost every sense. After a momentous few months of political drama and developments 2020 presents an array of challenges and opportunities for the Institute just as it does for the UK and the world as a whole. Necessity is the mother of invention, however, and I’m confident that our work on nature-based solutions for some of the most fundamental issues facing people here in Scotland and across the globe will be as influential in the coming decade as it has been to date, perhaps even more so as we continue to work better across disciplines and continents. I hope you enjoy reading about some of these endeavours and look forward to hearing any comments you may have about things we do, don’t do, or should consider doing. SEFARI activity Introduction Professor Colin Campbell, Chief Executive of the James Hutton Institute /company/james-hutton-institute Autumn has proved no less busy than the first half of the year. We have continued to shine a light on impacts from the Scottish Government’s Strategic Portfolio, increased opportunities for partnerships via our funded mechanisms and created new training opportunities. We are seeing many examples of impact e.g. “conservation of genetic diversity” (Aichi 13) recommendations arising from Gateway projects and are actively seeking to support such outcomes. In autumn alone we funded three new Think Tanks, four Responsive Opportunities and launched two Fellowships: with Highland’s and Island’s Enterprise, investigating food clusters in support of the Arctic Policy Framework and with Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority in support of their woodland strategy. We have current Fellowship calls open on innovative monitoring and cooperation within Scottish agriculture. As part of our focus on strengthening KE and impact capacity we also ran training sessions on using social media and innovation engineering. COP26 is naturally forming a key priority in our thinking but looking forward to Spring we will be representing strategic research at the UK Food and Drink Expo, Scottish Parliament Academia Network Showcase, at “Celebrating Scotland’s Nature” and the Edinburgh International Science Festival. Our website content continues to grow we’re always keen to receive new case studies and blogs. Equally, welcome are ideas for training opportunities and ways to increase impact. info@sefari.scot 2 Hutton Highlights February 2020 3 Comments?