Just Transition Project
As the main provider of further and higher education in Moray, UHI Moray is uniquely positioned to equip people with the skills, education and retraining required to support retention and creation of access to green, fair and high-value work. The UHI Moray Just Transition Project was funded by the Scottish Government’s Just Transition Fund – a £500 million, 10-year fund to accelerate the energy transition in the North-East of Scotland and establish the region as a world-leader in the transition to a net zero economy. The principal aim of the UHI Moray Just Transition project was to understand the implications of the shift to Net Zero on the employment, skills and infrastructure requirements of the Moray region over the next 10 – 15 years.
CULTIVATE
The CULTIVATE (co-creating cultural narratives for sustainable rural development) project set out to understand the role of cultural heritage in shaping sustainable landscapes and communities in the context of societal challenges such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the climate emergency and transitions required to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This research explored how cultural narratives were co-created, contested and negotiated at community, regional and national scales using methods that bring to the fore cultural values, identify and relationships between people and land. CULTIVATE’s valuable impact for real world socio-ecological systems lies in conducting research across four Biosphere Reserves which represent a diverse spectrum of rural cultural landscapes with an ethos of scientific-based management and community engagement.
SATE 2
The SATE (Sustainable Aviation Test Environment) project Phase I and II, centred at Kirkwall Airport in the Orkney Islands, is a response to the Scottish Government’s mandate to Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd., which owns and operates the major airports in the north of Scotland, to create a net-zero aviation region by 2040. Under UKRI’s Future Flight Challenge programme, the University of the Highlands and Islands helped bring together a consortium of the necessary stakeholders across industry and national and local government. The result has been a rigorous and technology-agnostic evaluation of technologies against real-world use cases to not only remove carbon from regional aviation, but also improve connectivity for communities and businesses in remote and rural areas. These evaluations, including hybrid-electric aircraft, autonomous cargo-delivery drones, seaplanes and airships, have taken place from an operational airport and within multi-user airspace to provide the blueprint for commercial zero-carbon regional aviation operations.
RIPEET
The RIPEET (Responsible Research and Innovation Policy Experimentations for Energy Transition) project supported Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) policy experimentations for energy transition in three European territories - in Extremadura (ES), Highlands and Islands of Scotland (UK) and Ostrobothnia (FI). The research in the Outer Hebrides which was led by UHI focused on household energy solutions in response to fuel poverty and examined decarbonising options and ownership options for the local electricity grid to empower future innovation. This has set a good foundation for further research and trial projects which will help address fuel poverty in the Western Isles. The Outer Hebrides RIPEET Transition Lab has a broad range of stakeholders from across the public, private, academic, third sector and environmental sectors.
SCITOUR
The SCITOUR (Scientific Tourism) project created a new niche of scientific tourism that has a strong appeal to tourists who want to learn or participate in research on their vacations and who want to undertake more sustainable tourism activities with a strong focus on environmental responsibility. The main goal of the project was to support and to expand the possibilities for small tourism operators inside the Northern Periphery and Arctic (NPA) programme region to increase their market reach.
To achieve these goals, a packaged service was developed, including SCITOUR guidelines, a SCITOUR brand and marketing strategy, tested SCITOUR model products and a digital platform for both sales and marketing as well as general information about the SCITOUR concept. The scientific tourism products created through the project are now being promoted using the brand name 'Wonder Seekers.'
Net Zero KE Challenge Fund Projects
Mapping Blue Carbon for Net Zero Policy Brief
The project consolidated information on blue carbon habitats in Shetland, examining their roles in marine ecosystems and their significance in the context of Shetland's push towards net-zero emissions. The project identified and detailed the types of blue carbon habitats present in Shetland, contributions to carbon sequestration, and the current state of research involving habitat mapping and modelling in the region, in order to inform management practices and future policy development.
Working closely with UHI researchers, the Shetland Shellfish Management Organisation (SSMO) provided valuable insights by sharing best practices from their management of voluntary closed areas within the Fetlar-Haroldswick Marine Protected Area, which served as a case study for the policy brief. Additionally, the Shetland Island Regional Marine Planning Partnership was involved in disseminating the best practices outlined in the policy brief to a diverse advisory group, including statutory agencies and NGOs.
Understanding current practice to support seascape restoration in Shetland
Shetland as an island archipelago at the northernmost reaches of the UK carries an impression of remoteness and wild coastlines, that can obscure the large impact that anthropogenic activity and climate change are having on its coastal wildlife. As interest in marine restoration increases, driven by national policy change as well as local interest, it is important that UHI researchers and partners can help deliver a sustainable marine environment for Shetland.
This project allowed UHI researchers to establish and strengthen network with other academics, regulators, industry and NGOs, that are working on marine restoration projects. UHI researchers were able to learning from the experiences of this wider network, as well as identifying opportunities for collaboration and future restoration projects, including the potential for trialling seagrass restoration techniques in Shetland.
Exploring Shetland's Blue Carbon Habitats
Building on the 2024 UHI Shetland Net Zero Policy Brief for Marine Habitats, researchers at UHI Shetland developed further work on mapping the Blue Carbon of Shetland. The report, titled “Exploring Sublittoral Blue Carbon Habitat Suitability and Potential in the Shetland Islands”, is now available to download from the MSP pages of UHI Shetland’s website.
This research contributes to a growing body of work aimed at supporting marine management and Scotland’s net zero targets. Blue carbon refers to the carbon captured and stored by the world’s oceans in habitats that act like underwater rainforests, absorbing carbon dioxide and locking it away for decades or even centuries.
In Shetland, these blue carbon habitats include seagrass meadows, kelp forests, maerl beds, brittlestar beds and horse mussel beds. They play a crucial role in carbon storage with a single hectare of seagrass able to store as much carbon as eight hectares of sandy seabed and twice as much as a forest on land.
This report presents high-resolution maps of known blue carbon habitats, including kelp forests, maerl beds, and sublittoral sediments, and predictive models. Key findings include:
- The equivalent of 27 football pitches’ worth (19.15 hectares) of blue carbon habitats has already been mapped in the seas around Shetland.
- The carbon already stored in these mapped habitats is equal to the yearly emissions of more than 100 people in Shetland or the same as driving a car for over 2.5 million miles.
- Predictive modelling suggests that up to 62 km² of blue carbon habitats could exist around Shetland.
- Combined, these mapped and predicted habitats potentially store over 6,000 tonnes of carbon.
The report also highlights that the blue carbon value of seabed habitats around Shetland is extremely variable. While rocky or stony habitats offer little to no carbon storage, those with the highest blue carbon potential are already protected through existing marine management in Shetland.