Exeter and National Trust partnership wins Knowledge Exchange award
A unique partnership between the University of Exeter and the National Trust has received a prestigious award.
The ‘Shaping Landscapes for People and Nature to Thrive’ partnership was a winner at the Knowledge Exchange UK Awards in the Strategic Partnerships category.
The award recognises the strategic partnership between the two organisations that has been ongoing since May 2021 and that seeks to apply academic expertise to real-world environmental challenges.
It brings together Exeter’s in-depth expertise from a range of academic disciplines with the National Trust’s specialism as an applied practitioner with a Strategic Framework for Research.
Both organisations have a strong history of working together and the partnership has allowed for closer collaboration on a range of major projects.
These include RENEW and Net Zero Plus, which are developing much-needed, lasting resources to help accelerate biodiversity renewal and the low-carbon transition, as well as a collection of projects exploring heritage adaptation, which provide a new approach to conservation that helps land managers deal with environmental change when traditional methods no longer work.
Krasimira Tsaneva-Atanasova, Vice-President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Impact) at the University of Exeter, said: “Our partnership with the National Trust is something we celebrate with enormous pride, and I am thrilled that this award recognises the outstanding impact of our collaboration. Bringing together world-class research with unrivalled expertise in our landscapes, we are protecting our shared heritage, strengthening biodiversity, and creating inspiring places where both people and nature flourish.”
Chloe Bines, Business Development Manager at the University of Exeter, added: “This fantastic recognition highlights the strength of our partnership and our shared commitment to advancing knowledge exchange. Amid rapid environmental change, declining biodiversity, and growing political and economic uncertainty, we are committed to delivering transformative change by working collaboratively on critical challenges that neither practitioners nor academics can address alone.”
At the heart of the partnership is a commitment to reconsider the way we think about the relationship between natural and cultural heritage landscapes and to use this knowledge to reimagine the way we manage landscapes in the future.
Dr Anita Weatherby, Head of Research, at the National Trust, said: “The National Trust has big ambitions for restoring nature, ending unequal access and inspiring people to take action for nature, beauty and history. This research partnership is driving forward that work by finding practical solutions to tricky problems and by putting people at the heart of decision making. A huge congratulations to the many people whose shared commitment has created this successful partnership!”
Find out more about the partnership here.
