Sign up here for this gold mine of information Email: relu@ncl.ac.uk to subscribe/unsubscribe – also see Relu http://www.relu.ac.uk/news/   The contents of the April newsletter are set out below along with the first two articles

April contents include and can be viewed with links by clicking here

1. New centre on evaluation of UK energy, water, environment and food policies
2. New dynamic land use planning tool
3. LWEC PPN subseries focuses on pollinator threats and needs
4. Participology helps everyone play the land management game
5. Understanding ecosystem stocks and tipping points
6. Relu research continues to influence policy and practice
7. New centre for crop health and protection
8. Making agri environment schemes more effective
9. Sky’s the limit for CIEL
10. Sustainable food isn’t only about new technology – new N8 professor
11. LEEP forward for land use policy
12. When scale does matter
13. Macronutrients Cycles Programme presents results
14. Battle to save the ash
15. Connecting with nature is good for mental health says report
16. What makes an animal healthy?
17. Celebrating 125 years of agricultural teaching and research
18. UK Research Councils publish strategic plan
19. New round of BBSRC Enterprise Fellowships 

New centre on evaluation of UK energy, water, environment and food policies

A national research centre, initiated by a consortium of leading UK bodies, will be developing new ways to measure the effectiveness of domestic policies on energy, water, environment and food (the ‘nexus’), and how they affect wider society. Led from the University of Surrey, the centre will also involve Cranfield University, Durham University, Newcastle University, University of Warwick, University of York and Risk Solutions. Additional international co-investigators will be from the European Academy of Technology and Innovation Assessment and Arizona State University.  CECAN has been backed by £2.45 million of funding provided by the Economic and Social Research Council and the Natural Environment Research Council in collaboration with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Department of Energy and Climate Change, the Environment Agency, and the Food Standards Agency.  For more information contact Nigel Gilbert email n.gilbert@surrey.ac.uk.

New dynamic land use planning tool

Ground-breaking software launched by the Sustainable Intensification Platform  aims to help policy makers and local decision-makers prioritise identified land-use practices which will maximise the economic outputs and environmental and social benefits across areas of land (known as sustainable intensification). The web-based Dynamic Typology Tool consists of a database of over 90 pre-existing maps, which show the diversity of farm systems and the opportunity for improvement that can be delivered by sustainable intensification practices. The user can adjust the weighting of these maps in line with national or local priorities. This produces a map of the local opportunity for sustainable intensification in comparison with the overall national picture. The tool, created by experts at ADAS, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and Fera, has been demonstrated at a number of stakeholder workshops. Feedback will be used to refine the tool before it will become available on the web to land-use planners and decision-makers. For more information, please contact Gavin Huggett, SIP2 Project Manager (e: SIP2@exeter.ac.uk) and follow the project on Twitter @SIPResearch.