New report reveals the impact of communities in the Highlands and Islands leading climate change research

The British Science Association (BSA), UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and Science Ceilidh have published a new evaluation report that reveals the impact that its Highlands and Islands Climate Change Community Grant programme has had over the last three years.  

The scheme has supported community groups in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland since 2021 to work with researchers on projects that tackle a local climate change issue that matters to them. 

DOWNLOAD THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

DOWNLOAD THE REPORT

READ THE CASE STUDIES

The key findings from the report include: 

• There was demonstrable value of the community groups being directly in charge of the budget which allowed them to plan out how best to use the funding to achieve their aims. 

• The community groups and researchers have developed strong, equitable and collaborative relationships.  

• The process of developing, growing and sustaining community activity is complex and requires time, resources and dedicated support. This is particularly important for groups who have the lowest capacity and who are working with underserved, marginalised and vulnerable communities. 

• One-to-one support, network building activities and opportunities for peer-learning helped to foster partnerships on climate change, and gave community groups new confidence in their ability to affect local change and engage in research. 

• Capacity building funding, that was not tied to project delivery, was innovative and helped to address underlying issues of capacity for many local groups, which can have an impact on their ability to successfully deliver their projects and particularly to take follow-up actions based on their findings. 

• Climate change work was a real ‘anchor’ for communities and researchers to collaborate – while climate is not always an easy topic to engage in, it is something that everyone has a stake in. 

Mamta Patel, from Ulluminate CIC, an organisation that was funded in the second phase of the programme, said:

I had not thought it would be possible [to get so far] in our first year, but [the researcher] has now set the path for others to follow. We would love to work with other researchers to further look at links between climate change and other factors including biodiversity, social change, landscape.

The grant scheme was launched in November 2021 to coincide with Glasgow hosting the global climate conference – COP26 – and has gone on to fund 15 community groups across the Highlands and Islands on a range of projects. It was funded by UKRI and delivered by the BSA in partnership with Science Ceilidh. 

Kate Orchard, Head of Community Engagement at the British Science Association, said:

At the BSA, we are committed to improving the connections between the public and research, particularly in ways that will bring the voices of those who are often not heard to the forefront. The Highlands & Islands Climate Change Community Grant scheme has been a fantastic programme to work on, and has demonstrated the real value in supporting communities and researchers to work more closely together, and so I’m delighted we are able to share this report.  

Tom Saunders, Head of Public Engagement at UK Research and Innovation, said: 

We are so pleased to share the outcomes from the Highlands & Islands Climate Change Community Grant. This programme is one of several ways UKRI has been exploring how our funding can enable more equitable partnerships between communities - particularly those underrepresented in research and innovation - and researchers to tackle urgent issues for society. We are exploring how we can embed the learning from these programmes across UKRI as we work towards our goal of breaking down barriers between research, innovation and wider society. 

The first phase of the programme, which ran in 2021/22, demonstrated the impact that smaller grants and having dedicated support for learning and development can have in establishing new relationships between grassroots climate action groups, their communities and researchers.  

The second phase of the programme, which finished in 2024, built on that success by offering two types of funding: 

• the New Voices grant, which was open to groups whose voices are often marginalised within climate change discourse and are particularly underrepresented in science;  

• the Building Capacity grant, which was offered to the groups from the first phase, to provide additional funding and support to develop community organisations’ capabilities in leading research, aiming to address systemic issues and barriers facing the sector.