Unlocking the Benefits of Urban Green and Blue Spaces - Scoping workshops

Announcement of workshops - Call for participants

Three workshops to be held across different timezones during the week 9-16 June 2022 virtually on Zoom.

Summary

The Natural Environment Research Council, UK Research and Innovation (NERC-UKRI), leading on behalf of the collaborating parts of UKRI and in partnership with the Belmont Forum, invites UK applications to attend a scoping workshop(s) to bring together members of the international research and innovation communities to explore and identify research priorities within the topic of 'Unlocking the Benefits of Urban Green and Blue Spaces' in advance of a potential Collaborative Research Action (CRA).

Urban environments face different challenges in different areas across the Global North and Global South, as well as through their differing stages of urban development. Through scoping workshops, we aim to identify the research priorities needed to understand how green and blue spaces in these different urban areas function in relation to resilience and adaptation to change, and delivery of ecosystems services. In turn, we expect that decision-makers can use this new understanding, as well as existing knowledge, to determine how to sustainably manage these spaces in an equitable way to maximise the environmental, social, cultural and health benefits they provide in order to meet the challenge of making cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

Applying to attend

We are holding 3 workshops across the week of 9–16 June 2022, one in each time zone of British Summer Time (UK, Europe, Africa); China Standard Time (China, Australia, South East Asia, Japan, Taiwan); and Eastern Time (USA, Canada, South America). The workshops will follow the same format, but the international regions for participants will likely differ. Applicants should indicate which of the workshops they would be prepared to attend out of the three time zones (which can include multiple and/or options). To allow for maximum inclusion and participation, the scoping workshops will be held virtually, and we are now inviting applications to attend this event by using the online registration form below.

We would like to invite UK applications from those who have expertise within the Urban Green and Blue Spaces research area from an environmental, arts and humanities, engineering and physical, biological or social science perspective. This can include researchers at any career stage, policymakers, or other stakeholders. We would be particularly interested to receive applications from those: with a broad range of expertise in the topic; working across disciplines or working within an inter-disciplinary environment; and those with a global focus, and/or international collaboration experience.

UKRI reserve the right to manage attendance to ensure an appropriate balance of expertise and institutional representation. Attendees will be expected to indicate whether they can represent the wider interests of their institution as well as their individual interests. Unfortunately, we will not be able to provide feedback to unsuccessful applicants. It is not a requirement to attend the workshop, and nor is attendance a preclusion, to be able to apply to any potential forthcoming call for funding. However, it is important to stress here that there is no further confirmed funding attached to this activity. An application will be considered as confirming availability for the workshop and as a commitment to attend if selected.

In the online application form applicants should outline how they can contribute to the scoping of the research area, including why their expertise is relevant, any current international collaborations, and their personal rationale for being involved in the workshop, including what they hope to gain.

For any questions, please contact the programme mailbox: bluegreenspaces@nerc.ukri.org.

Workshops:

• 9 June 2022, British Summer Time (10:00 – 14:00 BST)
• 14 June 2022, China Standard Time (06:00 – 10:00 BST)
• 16 June 2022, Eastern Time (15:00 – 19:00 BST)

Registration for this event closed on 17 May 2022.