Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

Aonachadh (un-ach-A) is gaelic for coming together, for two faces of a mountain that meet to form a uniting ridge. Building on and expanding an existing network of over 280+ organisations, we will bring together a wide range of stakeholders interested in investable biodiversity uplift projects. We will develop methods for creating standardised, accessible, and verifiable data, metrics and tools for voluntary biodiversity markets, and co-create research questions and a programme of work that can lead to a common framework for data gathering and business models and community engagement methods acceptable to supply-side projects as well as demand side investors. Research activity will enable us to come together in workshops and working groups to collaboratively co-create research questions, and then share, discuss and learn from lessons emerging from biodiversity uplift pilot projects engaging with voluntary markets in Scotland. Our research network - of established and emerging projects, financiers and policy makers - will contribute to NERC's Nature Positive Future programme from the unique context of Scotland, which is experiencing unprecedented increases in land values alongside a land reform agenda that seeks to deliver benefits from biodiversity markets for local communities. Scotland's place-based approach to ecosystem market development provides a unique opportunity to understand interactions between biodiversity, finance and society and what this means for environmental and economic resilience. Recent and ongoing work from the core team, and established connections with UK stakeholders and channel partners Ecosystems Knowledge Network and the Green Finance Institute, means we can initiate a quick start for more results and impact.

The science of naming, classifying and identifying species, known as taxonomy, is absolutely fundamental to building scientific research programmes on biodiversity. Without knowing what an organism is and being able to refer to it unambiguously, scientists would be unable to make the scientific progress required in food security, medical research and resilience to climate change. However, as we develop more knowledge the science of taxonomy becomes increasingly complex. Between 1753 and 2016, the number of known plant species has risen from 6,000 to 390,000, an average increase of nearly 1,500 species each year. Over 2,000 new species were discovered in 2015. The number of specimens held globally in herbaria has also increased. There are now over 3,000 herbaria around the world holding nearly 400 million specimens. Any taxonomist working now therefore has an immense and expensive task of gathering information about the species that they are studying, involving travel to various herbaria or the risk of damage or loss to specimens if they are sent on loan. With about 10-20% of flowering plant species still to be described, it is estimated that about half of these have already been collected and are held in herbaria around the world. Herbarium collections are vital to taxonomy and biodiversity research so we need to find solutions to making the information more widely accessible in order to speed up the research process given the scale of the challenges we are facing. In many cases, a high resolution digital image of the specimen with electronic collection data attached will enable researchers to carry out much of the basic work. By digitising the herbarium collections we can provide these resources to taxonomists in every part of the world. However, digitisation is only one step of the process. We also need to create an environment where taxonomic researchers can bring all the digital resources together with the physical specimens, using tools and equipment to make working with massive amounts of complex information easy and intuitive. This kind of workstation is most famously seen in television programmes such as CSI, but we need to be implementing the technology and data management in our institutes if we are going to have a chance to produce the taxonomic basis for global biodiversity in time to help its survival.

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

Doctoral Training Partnerships: a range of postgraduate training is funded by the Research Councils. For information on current funding routes, see the common terminology at https://www.ukri.org/apply-for-funding/how-we-fund-studentships/. Training grants may be to one organisation or to a consortia of research organisations. This portal will show the lead organisation only.