Written evidence submitted by John Grace, Emeritus Professor, University of Edinburgh (Forest 01)
I am a recently retired professor, still actively engaged in forestry-related research in UK, Europe and the tropics. The impact of the Spending Review on the research we do is summarised below. I have restricted my submission to specific things, as I’m sure others will speak more generally about the need for strategic research in forest science.
We actively collaborate with colleagues in the Forestry Commission’s agency Forest Research, both at their research station near Edinburgh (the Northern Research Station) and at Alice Holt Lodge in Surrey. We are involved in long term planning of their research forest and installation of sensors for surveillance of the response of the forest resource to climate change. We are involved with them in writing various publications on the general theme of the value of forests in the mitigation of climate change. Their research, and their research infrastructure, is evidently under threat by the deep cuts that are rumoured, and we notice this in their morale and in their reduced availability for meetings (it has become harder for them to travel). They face uncertainty about the future, yet they hold large data sets and research sites.
The forest at Alice Holt is instrumented according to recommendations that were developed for a European Research Infrastructure called ICOS (Integrated Carbon Observing System). This ICOS* project is on the UK’s Large Facilities Roadmap** for research infrastructure, and new funding opportunities are about to be announced.
In connection with the ICOS project, we hope to be able to raise funds through the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), and therefore build observation stations to match those of our colleagues in France, Germany, Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, Italy and the Czech Republic. Our natural collaborators in the UK are (i) Forest Research and (ii) the NERC’s Centre for Ecology and Hydrology. Both of these organisations are likely to suffer as a result of the spending review. In particular we note NERC’s restriction on expenditure on large and expensive items of equipment: only 50% of the funding for any item will be granted. Most of our equipment consists of high-tech sensors for measuring greenhouse gases, which we will not be able to buy. In this climate of under-funding, it becomes very hard to develop research that is internationally competitive. Even the Czech Republic can afford equipment that we in the UK will not be able to procure.
Over the years, we have developed a strong research profile in forest science, publishing in top journals including Nature and Science; and we have become something of an international centre, attracting talented researchers from Europe, North America and elsewhere. We are in danger of becoming a “poor man of Europe” as a result of the Spending Review!
3 June 2011
References
* http://www.icos-infrastructure.eu/
**http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/research/Infrastructure/Pages/lfr.aspxIf