The UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), Welsh Government and Scottish Government are seeking proposals for large interdisciplinary research projects under the Future of UK Treescapes Programme.

The overarching objective of the Future of UK Treescapes programme is to improve significantly the environmental, socio-economic and cultural understanding of the functions and services provided by UK treescapes, in order to inform decision-making on the expansion of future treescapes for the benefits of the environment and society.

Thematic Areas

The call will support grants that address one or more of the programme’s themes:

• Theme 1: Forms, functions and values of UK Treescapes
• Theme 2: Opportunities, barriers and pathways for expansion of UK Treescapes
• Theme 3: Resilience of UK Treescapes to global change

Funding Information

• Funds of up to £10m are available from NERC, AHRC and ESRC for this call and up to six projects are expected to be awarded.
• In addition, Defra, Welsh Government and Scottish Government will provide up to £900k to support Forest Research (FR) to collaborate with eligible research organisations and submit joint research proposals.
• Individual projects may request up to £2m (80?C) over 36 months.

Eligibility Criteria

• Each proposal must address one or more research themes.
• Proposals will be expected to take an interdisciplinary approach bringing together environmental scientists, social scientists, economists, arts and humanities researchers to form substantial research collaborations.
• Projects will be expected to emphasise contributions to ‘real world’ decision making and demonstrate a commitment to engage wider stakeholders and users of research. Key stakeholders for the outputs of this programme include (but are not limited to) Defra and associated bodies, the Devolved Administrations, local authorities, landowners/managers, NGOs, local community groups and the general public.
• Forest Research (FR) is not eligible to apply for UKRI funding under this call but may submit joint collaborative research proposals with organisations eligible to receive UKRI funding.
• Investigators including those based at FR may be involved in no more than two proposals submitted to this call and only one of these may be as the lead Principal Investigator.

For more information, visit UKRI Call for Proposals.