With clear evidence that we must act now to protect, create and restore UK woods and trees, the Woodland Trust is inviting applications for research projects that will address its priority areas within the next two years.
The 2021 Spring Research Grant Call will award funding of £5,000 – £20,000 for projects that align to the Trust’s recently published State of the UK’s Woods and Trees report. The report highlighted a barrage of compounding threats that pose catastrophic consequences for the country’s woods and trees.
Woodland Trust head of conservation outcomes and evidence Dr Hazel Jackson said: “Scientific evidence underpins all the Woodland Trust’s conservation activities. We are constantly looking for effective, credible solutions to deal with the challenges facing trees and woods in the UK.
“The warning signs in our recent State of the UK’s Woods and Trees report are loud and clear. If we don’t tackle the threats facing our woods and trees, we will severely damage the UK’s ability to address the climate and nature crises. Our wildlife havens are suffering, and we are storing up problems for future generations.
“Knowledge is the key to ensuring we can engage people and inspire support, as well as develop and advocate strong, effective conservation techniques and we hope to see a range of strong applications to further enhance the evidence that feeds directly into our practice as well as our policy.”
The Trust particularly encourages applications from minority groups and early career researchers to increase the diversity of scientists in the conservation sector so they can gain experience in leading applied research projects and working with a practitioner non-government organisation.
Themes the Trust is looking for research to address are as follows:
Woodland extent, condition, and wildlife value
Projects are expected to illustrate how new and existing methodologies can be used to monitor the wildlife value of UK trees and woods and assess ecological condition. We are particularly interested in gaining new insights into the extent, condition, and wildlife value of ancient woodland, trees outside of woods, wood pasture and parkland, ancient and veteran trees, urban trees and community woodlands.
Benefits for people
Woods and trees benefit people in a whole host of ways including flood risk management, pollination, carbon sequestration and storage, recreation, public health and the cultural, spiritual and intrinsic values we place on them. Proposals examining how these benefits can be promoted at the site and landscape scale and the relative trade-offs when different objectives are prioritised, are encouraged under this theme.
Threats and drivers of change
Proposals under this theme should aim to inform protection of new and existing woods and trees from the huge array of threats, enhancing resilience and ecological integrity at site and landscape scale.
Restoration, creation and management
This theme aims to improve and refine practical conservation delivery by focusing on the development of novel, efficient and cost-effective approaches. Research topics in this theme may include intervention trials to provide evidence for the effectiveness of management or restoration.
It may include research into innovative techniques and methods for creating new native woodland for different objectives. This includes effectiveness for biodiversity and people but also the economics and cost-effectiveness of different approaches.
Landscape scale research
The Trust is particularly interested in applied, interdisciplinary research projects addressing issues with landscape-scale significance. It will encourage research which integrates woods and trees across other appropriate aspects of conservation, and other land uses that traditionally do not feature trees and integration into society more widely.
Further details about how to apply and topics of interest under each theme can be found at www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/grants.
The deadline for applications is Thursday 1 July at 4pm.
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