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13-05-09 : ECRR Forum : Scotland's Changing Rural Biodiversity The aim of this one-day forum was to discuss current knowledge on the status and values of Scotland's rural diversity and to explore successes and failures in achieving biodiversity goals. The forum took place on 13 May 2009 at the SNH Battleby Centre, near Perth, with around 100 participants. Thanks for a successful meeting are due to Professor Martin Price, his colleagues at Perth College, and the staff at SNH Battleby Centre. The presentations can be viewed here. NB. A 2009 SNH conference with the title "The Changing Nature of Scotland" takes place on 17/18th September 2009 in Perth. It will discuss how changes in our land, water and seas affect us, our businesses and our health. Why should changes in our natural environment matter to us? More information can be found here

17-02-09 : ECRR Peter Wilson Lecture 2009 Professor John Beddington, UK Government's Chief Scientific Adviser, gave the 2009 ECRR Peter Wilson Lecture. The lecture, organised jointly with the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Institute of Biology Scotland, was held in the RSE, George Street, Edinburgh on 17 February 2009. Professor Beddington spoke about some of the world's major resource challenges over the next 40 years in providing food, water and energy for an expanding population. He provided an assessment of the technological solutions available and the scientific challenges in bringing these solutions to bear. Professor Beddington's presentation, including slides and video, can be viewed from the RSE web site.

19-09-08 : ECRR Workshop : Provision of Environmental Research to 2020 This workshop explored how the needs for an evidence base on UK environmental changes can be met over the coming decade. The speaker, Peter Singleton, SEPA, and who is also chairman of the Horizon Scanning Project Board for the Environment Research Funders' Forum, gave a stimulating talk which provoked a wide-ranging discussion on how environmental research issues in Scotland might be addressed. Slides from Peter Singleton's presentation can be viewed here.

07-11-07 : Climate Change Impacts Seminar - 7 Nov 2007 ECRR and the Scotland & Northern Ireland Forum for Environmental Research organised a seminar on 7 November 2007 to share information on climate change research. More than 50 participants heard from 9 speakers about a broad spectrum of issues and the challenges that researchers must face. Slide presentations from the seminar can be viewed here: A View from Government, Philip Wright, Scottish Government Scotland in Partnership, Marion Mulholland, SNIFFER Impacts & Adaptation for Birds, James Pearce-Higgins, RSPB Scotland Forestry in Scotland, Duncan Ray, Forest Research Local Communities' Adaptation, Clive Bowman, Centre for Mountain Studies Water Industry, Mark Williams, Scottish Water Implications for Agriculture, Dominic Moran, SAC Measuring Impacts, Adam Butler, BioSS Coastal Communities Impacts, Alexandre Gagnon, University of Paisley

02-06-07 : Scotland's Energy & Environment - Technological and Social Challenges A meeting to discuss issues relating to traditional and renewable energy technologies and their social and environmental impacts was held on 30th May 2007 at the SNH Battleby Centre near Perth. The meeting was organised jointly by ECRR and the UK Energy Research Centre with the support of the Scottish Executive, Scottish Natural Heritage and the Aberdeen Research Consortium. Abstracts of talks can be viewed here

Future events For details of future ECRR events please click on the 'Diary of Events' button on the lefthand panel.

What are the 'hot' topics in rural Scotland? Up-to-date information, news, and discussion from around the country, provided by Rural Gateway Scotland.