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In late 2024 we were awarded two five-year long flagship UKRI-funded projects, as part of its ‘Building a green future’ strategic theme. The first of these is the £4.6m Systems Approaches for Accelerating a Just Transition (JUST-Systems) led by the University of Aberdeen. The project will develop practical pathways and accelerate action that builds on community aspirations for sustainable, liveable and resilient places.

More about JUST-Systems on the University of Aberdeen's website

The other flagship grant is the £4.6m People-Led Net Zero project led by the University of Bath. The research explores the potential of putting people at the heart of making changes that can yield significant carbon savings.

This knowledge exchange project advances the transition of Scotland’s building stock towards net zero and healthier homes by addressing the slow pace of tenement retrofit. It delivers openly accessible toolkits for retrofit and governance improvement, targeting property factors and owners and produces a policy briefing to inform policy development.

Renewable power continues to grow at break-neck pace in the UK. Most renewable power projects establish Community Benefit Funds (CBFs) that re-direct revenue into communities to generate local benefits. As the scale and coverage of CBF investment grows, so too will the need for these funds to be structured, governed and evaluated in a way that maximizes community benefit. 

Our research examines where, when, how and why CBFs have been implemented across Scotland, as well as their effectiveness in generating lasting community benefits. We have generated sectoral and organisational level recommendations to enhance their impact.

Natural capital markets are an increasingly important focus for international efforts to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss. The projects responsible for protecting - or bolstering - our natural capital stocks – and the ecosystem services they provide – will ultimately have an important impact on the communities that live with them.

There has therefore been an effort to establish market standards that outline best-practice community engagement and benefit sharing, in a bid to ensure these projects are designed in a way that empowers and enriches these communities, rather than the reverse. SISC’s work has sought to bring academic integrity to the development of these standards through engaging across a range of projects and with a range of private, public and third-sector partners.