Funding Opportunity: Resilient UK Coastal Communities and Seas

Deadline: 13-Jul-23

Apply for funding to enhance the resilience, health and wellbeing of UK coastal communities and seas.

Your transdisciplinary research project will apply a place-based approach to transform the understanding of UK coastal communities and seas. You will utilise relevant approaches to build understanding and collaborate with stakeholders to enable transformative decision making.

The programme will enhance community knowledge mobilisation and improve resilience in the management of UK coastal areas and seas. They aim to support up to four research grants, beginning in April 2024. The full economic cost (FEC) of each project can be up to £2.9 million (100% FEC).

Objectives

The programme objectives are to:
- apply place-based approaches to transform the understanding of climatic, environmental, health, economic, social, and cultural factors affecting UK coastal communities and seas
- develop the resilient management of UK coastal seas, coastal communities, and the natural capital these areas depend on and support, by delivering the evidence base, tools and practical solutions
- inform policy and enable transformative decision making in collaboration with local communities
- build capacity and capability for transdisciplinary research and the mobilisation of research evidence within UK coastal communities and seas
The anticipated long-term outcomes of the programme will be a coordinated network of academics, policy makers, communities and wider stakeholders that are able to implement scalable solutions to improve the resilience, health and wellbeing of UK coastal communities.

Thematic Areas

Proposals for the research projects should take a transdisciplinary approach, to address at least two of the following thematic areas.

Theme one: understand the impacts of climate change on UK coastal areas to build resilience of marine environments and coastal communities, and to enhance ocean literacy
- Coastal communities mainly rely on livelihoods such as fishing, tourism, and the energy industry. This puts a strain on natural areas such as marine habitats and ecosystems, which are under increasing pressure from climate change, and makes local economies vulnerable to shocks.
- There is a need to explore what future opportunities and interventions can be implemented to increase the resilience of coastal and marine ecosystems and the communities that depend on and interact with them.
- Projects should inform policy and decision making on the impacts of climate on marine natural capital assets and ecosystem service flows, including timescales of change, and how these impacts will affect local communities. Applicants should engage local communities in order to enhance ocean climate change literacy and stewardship to build resilience to future risks of climate change, such as sea-level rise.
- Knowledge gaps that could be considered under this theme include, but are not limited to:
  - evaluating the impact of interventions within the scope of the programme and assessing the combined benefits and risks from interventions to establish best practice approaches
  - building understanding of the effects of climate change on the marine and coastal environment, and its future impact on UK coastal communities
  - identifying effective mechanisms to improve social identity and socio-cultural literacy in coastal communities with a view to building resilience in planning and decision making
  - understanding the economic resilience in UK coastal areas, particularly with regards to tourism and other industries, including costs and benefits to communities in successful approaches to building resilience
  - building understanding of the historical and cultural contexts of coastal communities and their changing nature. To develop interventions that support communities to sustain and enhance their community and natural environments
  - enhancing understanding of how sectoral innovation and diversification in the use and non-use of marine resources can affect resilience of both natural capital assets and coastal communities in the face of climate change
Theme two: to enhance resilience in UK coastal areas by understanding the challenges experienced by coastal communities, and the potential effects on the natural environment
- This theme addresses the importance of understanding deprivation in UK coastal communities recognising the unique challenges they face. Specifically, applicants should set out how the challenges faced by coastal communities can be addressed through local and national initiatives.
- Access to services and addressing the wider determinants of health have been identified as important in building long term resilience in coastal communities, including addressing and preventing poor health (including mental health) by utilising nearby marine and coastal environments.
- Knowledge gaps that could be considered under this theme include, but are not limited to:
  - challenges facing coastal communities in terms of access, accessibility and quality of services, such as education and healthcare and how this relates to the inclusion of different coastal communities to promote innovative and place-based economic growth
  - how local, cultural and natural assets can be harnessed to support improvements in health, social and economic inequalities
  - drivers of the local needs of coastal communities to build effective solutions to improve coastal community health and wellbeing. It may be useful to engage with the NIHR Health Determinants Research Collaboration initiative
Theme three: articulate the value and benefits of coastal environments and communities to transform decision making and improve outcomes
- This theme is focussed on how value and benefits are designated and articulated in the development of coastal policy and decision making. Applicants should set out how their research will deliver transformational change for coastal communities and ecosystems through improved understanding of the value of coastal ecosystem services and ‘blue space’ and the health, economic, cultural, and societal benefits across different scales.
- Knowledge gaps that could be considered under this theme include, but are not limited to:
  - informing the case for the value of well-maintained, restored coastal ecosystems and marine environments, including how the condition of natural capital assets affects ecosystem services and links to community wellbeing
  - improving how marine and coastal cultural heritage is valued, integrated, and protected within wider policy development and marine management
  - understanding the socio-cultural value placed on natural capital by coastal communities and the wider UK population, and how to represent these values effectively in the co-production of policy and decision making
  - values of place-based interactions with coastal and marine natural capital in improving health and wellbeing outcomes for local communities, including the condition and role of natural capital assets in enabling beneficial engagement with the marine coastal natural environment

Funding Information

Total fund: £11,500,000
Award range: £2,500,000 – £2,900,000
Within the programme, we aim to support up to four transdisciplinary research grants, beginning in April 2024 and lasting up to 54 months. The FEC of each project can be between £2.5 to 2.9 million. They will fund 80% FEC.
Proposals must be able to start on 1 April 2024 and clearly outline how they deliver short-term impacts within the first year of the project, as well as in the medium to long term.

Eligibility Criteria

You must be based at an eligible UK research organisation to apply.
The principal investigator for this funding opportunity must be based at an organisation eligible for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funding for the duration of the grant.
Eligible organisations are:
- UK higher education institutions
- research council institutes
- UKRI-approved independent research organisations
- public sector research establishments
- NHS bodies with research capacity
They encourage active collaboration between UK researchers and those in other countries, and co-investigators based in overseas research organisations.
Applicants may be involved in no more than two proposals submitted to this funding opportunity. Only one of these may be as the lead principal investigator. Only those applicants invited to submit full proposals after the assessment of outline proposals may do so.
This funding opportunity is being administered by ESRC on behalf of UKRI.

Ineligible

proposals where the transdisciplinary research does not fit in the remits of all three research councils (AHRC, ESRC and NERC)
proposals where there is an imbalance of the intellectual content, and some disciplines appear ‘bolted’ on

For more information, visit ESRC.