The Constructing a Digital Environment Strategic Priorities Fund programme aims to develop the digitally enabled environment which benefits scientists, policymakers, businesses, communities and individuals. Our funded research will help support the creation of integrated networks of sensors (in situ and remote sensing based), and the methodologies and tools for assessing, analysing, monitoring and forecasting the state of the natural environment. This will be done at higher spatial resolutions and at higher frequency than previously possible. This would support responses to acute events but also inform our understanding of long-term environmental change. Multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary research and innovation (or MIDRI) will aid in the successful construction of a ‘digital environment’.
Webinars
Our popular webinar programme has now completed the seventh series of talks on ‘AI in Environmental Science’. All the talks are documented on our web pages here and we hope you enjoy watching them. The videos are all hosted on our parallel YouTube channel. Although the set of webinars are now concluded, we hope to bring further talks to you so watch this spot!
Innovation In Data Science:
The programme seeks to develop a better understanding as to the role and application of novel methods or applications of statistical and mathematical techniques in the digital environment.
Digital Case Studies:
The programme will identify a set of relevant case studies of existing best-practices for providing digital solutions, where the digital environment can provide a step change in decision making for policy and practice.
Constructing A Digital Foundation:
The programme seeks to articulate what the best data infrastructure and informatics toolsets are to aid the supply of digital solutions. Encouraging the use of cloud computing investments.
The Strategic Priorities Fund
The Strategic Priorities Fund (SPF) is a new collective fund across UK Research & Innovation (UKRI). It aims to better enable investment in cross-departmental research and innovation priorities across UKRI, thus increasing high quality multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary research and innovation, and positioning UKRI to be able to respond to strategic priorities and opportunities.
A recent workshop on environmental infrastructure highlighted requirements for observation, simulation and data infrastructure. This included the desire for distributed networks of environmental sensors, additional forms of autonomous data collection, a cyber-secure infrastructure, and citizen science. As part of its ambition for increasing data integration across its own environmental data centres, NERC has already funded a study which highlighted needs from the business community for new multi-disciplinary data products, including those utilising environmental sensor technology.
Advances in digital technology have led to a rapid increase in the volume of data being captured, curated and managed on a daily basis. Alongside this, new technologies have enabled a step-change in global capacity for integrated monitoring, analysis, modelling and visualisation of the natural environment at potentially transformative spatial and temporal scales. This could be used more efficiently to inform policymaking and benefit businesses, communities and individuals.
By harnessing these advances in technology and the UK’s leading position in both environmental, observational and computer / data sciences, there is an opportunity to create a digitally enabled environment. This could be done through more integrated networks of sensors (in situ and remote sensing based), together with methodologies and tools for assessing, analysing, monitoring and forecasting the state of the natural environment at higher spatial resolutions and finer temporal scales than previously possible.
As such a digital environment will deliver the capacity to improve the understanding and modelling of longer term environmental change and the prediction of events. This will benefit a range of public and private sector users, and provide evidence to support both decision-making and operational activities within government departments and arm’s length bodies.
The Strategic Priorities Fund represents an opportunity to build on the UK’s current capabilities to consider what is technically feasible with regards to constructing a digital environment, and to establish an integrated network of practitioners in this area.