GCRF Funding Cycle
2018-19
Principal Investigator
Professor Thomas Meagher
Schools
Biology
ODA countries
Amazonian countries
The first aim of this project was to develop a stakeholder network to promote uptake of work supported through several stages of SFC GCRF funding to develop novel technology for biodiversity and land-use monitoring. Stakeholder engagement supported by this SFC GCRF grant included meeting with a high-level scientific delegation at the Brazilian Embassy in London to discuss national Brazilian research agendas on biodiversity and ecosystem services and a series of meetings in the State of Ceará, Brazil, to discuss priorities for governmental and NGO work to ameliorate desertification resulting from unsustainable land use practices. From these meetings, it was clear that there was strong national and regional interest in our research outputs to address growing concern over such issues as desertification and irreversible deterioration of biodiversity resources.
The second aim was to support a symposium and workshop at the University of St Andrews to explore future collaboration and funding opportunities between St Andrews, other UK Institutions, and Brazilian institutions to further implement novel technologies for biodiversity resource management. A clear agenda for future research emerged from the workshop with several targeted funding sources (National Geographic Society, Leverhulme Trust, STFC Follow-on GCRF funding).