Climate change is driving ongoing rapid change in marine environments worldwide, leading to shifts in species' distributions as they track their 'climate envelopes' (the range of climatic conditions underpinning long-term persistence). This has consequences for long-term conservation management. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are an important component of modern marine conservation practice, but their contribution to conservation may evolve under climate change. Ensuring continued resilience in marine conservation management under these conditions represents a significant challenge for marine managers and will have implications for marine users. The project aims to critically evaluate the resilience of the current Scottish Marine Protected Area (MPA) network in the face of projected climate change to 2045 (by when Scotland seeks to achieve Net Zero CO2 emission status) and beyond, based on climate envelopes of selected features (species/habitats) for which these protected areas were originally designated, and explore planning/policy ramifications.

Populations of many species of seabirds have declined significantly over the past 30 years, with climate change identified as a primary cause. One species undergoing large declines is the Atlantic puffin, a species of high conservation concern that has recently been re-classified as 'vulnerable' by BirdLife International. The reduction in availability of prey (sandeels) has been proposed as a principal cause for declines, however, predation by predatory seabirds such as the great black-backed gull and great skua may also play a role, especially as these species are showing marked increases in many locations. Since both seabird predator and prey are legally protected, this may lead to wildlife conflicts, especially if management measures such as culling are proposed. Furthermore, conflicts will be shaped by the effects of other pressures on both species e.g. great black-backed gulls and puffins are potentially at risk from the development of offshore renewable energy installations such as wind farms and from the ingestion of [micro]plastics. It is therefore vital that detailed information is available on the interactions between the species involved in order to ascertain the population dynamic consequences of this predator-prey relationship, and to devise effective management strategies to alleviate this wildlife conflict. The PhD would examine the consequences of the significant increase in the great black-backed gull population on the Isle of May, south-east Scotland, on the Atlantic puffin populations. Atlantic puffins on the Isle of May have declined by more than a third in the last decade, while the great black-backed gulls have more than doubled over the same period. Past work at this colony has demonstrated that the majority of predation is undertaken by a subset of specialist gulls that generally target juvenile puffins [1, 2]. However, the extent to which this predation has population-level effects on puffins, and whether this is predicted to change in the future, has not been tested. Further, it is not clear whether potential effects on puffins are apparent more widely, because of limited knowledge of the population trends of great black-backed gull and the extent of interactions with local puffin populations. Therefore the project would involve focussed research on the Isle of May and analyses at the national scale to address the following key questions: a) What is the degree of foraging specialism among individual gulls? b) What is the age structure of predated puffins? c) What are the population-level consequences of predation by gulls on the puffin population? d) What are the predicted changes in puffin and gull population sizes associated with future changes in predator-prey interactions on the Isle of May and at the UK scale? e) What are the predicted changes in populations of both species caused by multiple drivers including offshore renewable effects and ingestion of marine plastics? Addressing these questions would provide conservation managers with the evidence they need to select the best options for alleviating this wildlife conflict.

Research challenge: Identify and demonstrate a robust and economic route for sustainably manufacturing drop-in replacement transport fuels (to use as diesel and aviation kerosene). Using innovative sources of sustainable biomass ensures continuity of fuel supply past peak oil and meets increasing fuel demands. Current 1st-generation technologies have reached the limits of available biomass feedstocks without compromising food supply/security. Seaweed (macroalgae) is a viable alternative source, but its use requires investigation, development and commercialization to provide a non-seasonal supply chain, to tackle its high water content and provide chemical processes for converting to transport fuels. Timeliness/UK Importance: The EU and UK government have set strict targets on greenhouse gas emissions. For example, the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation requires incorporation of 10% renewables into the supply chain by 2020. Such targets, coupled with increasing demand for dwindling oil reserves, especially for aviation and goods vehicles, make it vital in the short-/medium-term to develop a sustainable supply of diverse renewable feedstocks (current UK transport fuels use=54000 M litres pa: aviation fuel=24%, diesel=39%; 2% growth pa). Establishing routes to produce environmentally and economically sustainable transport fuels will have a direct (chemicals, fuels sectors) and an indirect (transport, manufactured goods' distribution) impact on ensuring the future of UK manufacturing industries. Project aims: To develop and evaluate an integrated supply and processing strategy for sustained production of ensiled MA-derived fuel-spec. hydrocarbons. Innovative Solution: For the first time conventional grassland ensilage methods will be used to reliably preserve MA biomass for >12 months. This MA silage will then be used as an intermediate energy carrier for production of syngas/bio-crude oil. Both hypotheses are entirely new and work of this type has not been conducted anywhere outside of the studies made by Durham/CPI/Silage Solutions. Significantly, dewatering and demineralisation are inherent features of ensiling, two factors crucial in facilitating post-gasification catalytic upgrading. The work will result in a significant step-change in the production pipeline of natural stock/cultivated MA, enabling systems integration by providing a sustained source of MA biomass of consistent chemical composition as a commodity feedstock for fuel production. Ultimately, this project will assist take-off of a large bio-fuels industry that avoids food/fuel competition for land use, does not require fresh water and makes MA biomass an affordable, preferred addition to land-based energy crops.

This project aims to establish the conditions for scalability of non-pharmaceutical cultural and natural heritage interventions in remote and rural areas. Exercise groups, outdoor activities, art therapies and peer support are increasingly being 'prescribed' to 'treat' both mental health conditions and address sedentary lifestyles. However, little has so far been done on how to deliver them at scale in remote and rural contexts. 17% of Scotland's population live in rural areas. Service providers face economic and logistical challenges delivering across large geographical areas with dispersed populations. Although rural communities can be perceived as tight-knit and resilient, the problems of mental ill-health, social isolation and deprivation can be hidden. However, rural areas have many natural and cultural assets on which non-pharmaceutical 'treatments' can be based to benefit a wide range of patients. Our study will focus on how to overcome challenges for service commissioners and planners; how to improve referral pathways to increase take up of non-pharmaceutical services; tackling delivery challenges faced by third sector providers; and identifying contextual factors determining the effective scaling up of non-pharmaceutical heritage interventions. We will identify the key conditions, mechanisms and contexts needed to scale up the prescription of these interventions so they can form part of mainstream health provision. To achieve this, we will explore scaling up from multi-stakeholder perspectives using qualitative research methods in conjunction with a scalability assessment. We will build our research around the 'Prescribe Culture' programme, developed by the University of Edinburgh, and use it as the basis to test scaling up in remote and rural areas. The cultural programme will be delivered both online and face to face with hands on workshops led by rural museums across the Highland region. Nature-based activities will also be led by countryside rangers. Focusing on this cultural and natural heritage intervention, we will look in detail at service planning/commissioning, referral, delivery, marketing and impact on providers, professionals and patients. Qualitative research methods such as interviewing will enable us to examine the challenges of scaling up from all angles along the social prescribing pathway. This mixed methods study will include a scalability assessment. A steering group of decision-makers, service planners and representatives from the voluntary sector will help inform the scalability assessment. Following a literature and policy review, we will interview or hold focus groups with steering group members, health professionals, community link workers, intervention facilitators and participants. In NHS Highland, Community Link Workers (CLWs) will be embedded in GPs practices in an attempt to reduce health inequalities. Located in areas of deprivation, CLWs will help patients to identify appropriate non-clinical activities or support. The heritage intervention will be delivered in areas where these CLWs are based. Outputs will include a final report, peer-reviewed publication, conference presentation, virtual exhibition of workshop material and a short film to raise awareness about social prescribing. A social prescribing 'fair' will be organised for the public and health professionals, so third sector providers can showcase a range of non-pharmaceutical interventions. Engagement with decision-makers and service providers is a key aspect and delivered via the steering group of representatives from NHS Highland, Highland Council and the third sector. We will develop a set of recommendations to help inform scaling up of services. We will disseminate findings through a range of organisations such as the NHS, Scottish Parliament Cross-party Working Group on Health Inequalities, Scottish Rural Health Partnership, Scottish Social Prescribing Network and Voluntary Health Scotland (VHS).

The consequences of the Covid-19 virus for the tourism industry in the EU cannot at present be accurately assessed - but it is clear, that they will be devastating. The tourism sector is especially vulnerable to crisis (Hall/Williams 2019). T-CRISIS-NAV will enable HEIs to educate existing SMEs and future entrepreneurs in the tourism sector to gain the skills and tools needed to successfully navigate their business through a virulent crisis. They will be fully equipped with the knowledge and actionable tools to analyse the specific extent of crisis impact and develop suitable countermeasures and navigate their company safely through the crisis. A topic that has never been as important as now – especially with COVID-19 but also Brexit threatening this significant industry in an unparalleled scale. In order to achieve a sustainable effect, we focus not only on HEI but also on SMEs and VET tourism networks and the areas that educate and train future managers, employees and entrepreneurs in the tourism sector. As tourism industry is characterised by an above-average proportion of SMEs, and as these are at the same time particularly vulnerable but also innovative, our work has an effect not only in terms of securing jobs but also on the innovative strength of the entire industry. This is especially true regarding sustainable tourism approaches.Experts cannot accurately estimate the impact of the current crisis on tourism. What is clear, however, is that the extent will be exorbitant. Transport, hospitality , entertainment and related sectors such as taxi drivers will feel the effects for months, if not years, and hundreds of thousands, if not millions of jobs throughout Europe will be threatened. The following statistics illustrate the importance of the sector for the European economy and show what effects the current crisis can have:- in 2018, the sector contributed €782 billion and 14.4 million jobs in Europe- Every year, EU residents take more than a billion vacation trips- 35% of the world’s global tourism expenditure is generated from the EU- Europe accounts for 50% of the world’s tourist arrivals and 37% of global tourismAll these figures are currently just a not so distant memory and will only recover slowly in the mid to long term - resulting in a constant threat to the predominantly small and medium-sized companies in the sector. While on the one hand short-term support measures are necessary from the political side, current and future entrepreneurs, start-ups and employees in the sector urgently need to be trained in strategic and operational crisis management, adaptive leadership and crisis resilience.Based on our daily experience and many projects with HEI, VET, consultants and support infrastructures, we are realising a great demand for this topic area. Therefore, we build on our existing knowledge with regard to crisis management, turnaround, curricula development and innovative learning content design and fill existing research GAPs with regard to crisis management and needs of SMEs in the tourism sector. Building on this, we will develop an up to date HEI curricula, an actionable VET-Training package, a set of open educational resources addressing SMEs and StartUps and an innovative learning app: all helping to put existing and future owner/managers in tourism SMEs to gain the knowledge and management competencies to navigate their company through the virulent crisis and to become more crises resilient in the future. Specifically, we will:1-Identify the challenges and needs of tourism SMEs in crisis (IO1)2-Develop innovative curricula and learning frameworks for HEI (IO2) and VET in order to train future generations of tourism executives, SMEs and StartUps and equip existing SMEs with the tools, competencies and frameworks to navigate their companies through a virulent crisis (IO3)4-Develop an innovative learning APP and knowledge platform to ensure wide and free access, of all produced resources (IO4)In doing so, the project addresses the following needs of our target groups and will create sustainable impact for them:a) SME Owners/managers and future entrepreneurs develop the necessary crisis management and adaptive leadership competencies and are enabled to take appropriate countermeasuresb) HEI and VET organisations, trainers, management consultants and support structures such as chambers or incubators are put in a position to sustainably professionalise their services and increase their impactc) By enabling companies to safely navigate through the crisis. we make a sustainable contribution to securing jobs at regional level. Against the background of networked value chains, this strengthens the resilience of the EU tourism sector