The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) has awarded the SAGES+ research pool funding of £750,000 over the period 2015-2020, writes Professor Trevor Hoey.

These funds will be matched by contributions from the member institutions:

Universities of Glasgow, Aberdeen, Abertay Dundee, Dundee, Edinburgh, St Andrews, Stirling, West of Scotland, Highlands and Islands and the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC).

The University of Glasgow is a leading partner in SAGES+ and currently houses the Directorate. 

SAGES+ continues the work of SAGES which since 2006 has generated over £80M of research funding, over 50 papers in Nature and Science, and has graduated over 50 PhD students.

Collaboration and co-operation between institutions lie at the core of the pool, which seeks to deliver SFC’s strategic goals with regard to the international strength of the Scottish research base and collaboration between universities and industry.

The alliance focuses on co-ordinated approaches to strategic environmental research questions (in areas including climate and environmental change, resilience, renewable and new energy sources and societal responses; food security) which best utilise expertise in Scotland to meet government aspirations for the Scottish economy and quality of life.

SAGES+ will integrate university environmental research expertise with Innovation Centres, business and industry, the policy community and other end-users, thus having capacity far exceeding any single institution.

SAGES+ seeks to grow the international reach and impact of Scottish research in the SAGES+ areas of surface geosciences and at the environmental science and society interface, and to enhance early-career researcher development. We will also develop extensive and ongoing engagement with Scottish business and industry, government agencies and NGOs, to deliver sustainable economic impact and highly-trained doctoral graduates.

First published: 24 August 2015

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